Captaincies of the Azores very clear, as it has been both referred to as the "comendador da ilha de Santa Maria e nosso capitão nos Açores" ("Commander of the island of Santa Maria and Our captain of the Azores"), or alternately as the "comendador das ilhas dos Açores" ("Commander of the Azores"). The more probable interpretation of this role, being from the Order of Christ responsible for the administration of the islands, came from the "comenda" regime, referring to a "knighthood" or "commandery", normally associated with the Order in Portugal, but applied to the, then, populous island of Santa Maria in the archipelago. Still,
Azores wood pigeon lays one white egg. In 2003, seven of the nine islands of the Azores were surveyed. The survey gave density estimates of 14.52 birds/km on Terceira and 5.14 birds/km on the other six islands. Azores wood pigeon densities in the Azores were still much lower than those of the common wood pigeon in mainland Europe. Populations in the Azores may now be limited by the availability of breeding habitat and over-winter food supply. There are strong differences between wood pigeon abundance on the different islands of the archipelago, notably with densities on the island of Terceira being higher than on