(PICAZURO PIGEON.)
+Patagioenas maculosa+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 496 (Mendoza,
Cordova, Tucuman). +Columba picazuro+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._
p. 132; _iid. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 143 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 193 (Buenos Ayres); _Gibson, Ibis_, 1880, p. 6
(Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 274 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above pale brown; head and neck vinous; back of neck
with white cross bands which are edged with black; lower back and
tail plumbeous; wings plumbeous, larger coverts broadly edged with
white: beneath pale vinaceous; flanks and crissum plumbeous: whole
length 14·0 inches, wing 8·0, tail 4·5. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ S.E. Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
The Picazuro or common Wood-Pigeon of the Argentine Republic is of about
the size of the domestic Pigeon, but has longer wings, and differs
greatly in colour and markings. In summer it inhabits woods, and is seen
in pairs or small parties, but in winter unites in flocks of from twenty
to one or two hundred individuals, and roams much over the open country.
It is a wary bird, and when feeding walks on the ground in a slow and
somewhat stately manner. In spring, its song resounds in the woods,
and, when heard for the first time, fills the listener with wonder, so
strangely human-like in tone are its long mournful notes. The notes
are five, the last one long with a falling inflection, and profoundly
sorrowful. The nest is a platform structure, frequently placed on a
broad horizontal branch; the eggs are two, and closely resemble those
of the common Rock-Pigeon of Europe.