Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 179
half a dozen were nearly always found in company, while bands of
25 or 30 were not unusual save when the birds were breeding. They
frequented the borders of thickets, weed patches, open prairies, or
old fields seldom far from trees that might give them shelter.
Where high gi'ass covered the open savannas the birds gathered in
any little open space at the border of forest, while recent burns
or plowed fields were always attractive to them. At the Riacho
Pilaga, Formosa, a little band came daily to feed on sorghum heads
stored under a porch at the ranch. The species is one that comes
frequently about houses and that may be found in the plazas of the
larger cities. I found it even in the Plaza San Martin, in the heart
of Buenos Aires, so that it was almost a surprise to encounter the
birds in comparative abundance in the wilder sections of the Chaco
far from human habitation. In March, near Tunuyan, Mendoza,
extensive fields of hemp called the birds in abundance. As the hemp
was grown solely for the fiber that it produced, the seed was allowed
to ripen thoroughly and shelled out to lie on the ground. Doves gath-
ered literally in hundreds, especially where lines of willows bordered
the fields to offer resting places. The birds flush quickly with a dart-
ing flight and fly rapidly, but as they are small in size are not
hunted, save by the pothunters, who kill all small birds. In the air
the black and white in the wing flash alternately, while there is an
additional line of white visible in the tail. In habits and general
appearance the birds are suggestive of ground doves.
Males began their monotonous cooing calls in October. On December
17 a female, shot near Carhue, Buenos Aires, contained an
egg with the shell partly formed. Near Montevideo, Uruguay, on
January 16, 1921, two young, not more than three-fourths grown
but strong in flight, were seen. A nest recorded January 29, near
San Vicente, Uruguay, was placed at the border of a little thicket,
more than 2 meters from the ground, where two small limbs crossed
and offered firm support. The nest, a slight platform of grass and
weed stems, contained two eggs nearly ready to hatch. A second
nest found February 19 near Rio Negro, Uruguay, at the border of
a thicket was placed in a shrub among thickly laced branches more
than 2 meters from the ground. The nest, a slight structure of grass
and fine twigs with a few feathers from the bodies of the OAvners,
contained two slightly incubated eggs that are white in color and
rather dull in texture. These measure, respectively, 23.6 by 17.7
and 23.1 by 18.2 mm. To my surprise, when I collected the bird that
was incubating, it proved to be the male. Males were calling and
were still in breeding condition at Tunuyan, Mendoza, on March 24.
At Tapia, Tucuman, in the second week of April young birds, fully
grown, were common and the breeding season appeared to be at an
end. With allowance for differences in climatic conditions it appears