338 



formed themselves into a hunting-club, organized all the 

 curs they could lay their hands on into a pack of hounds, 

 and sallied forth in scarlet frocks with green collars. But it 

 would not do. They speedily discovered that, in calculating 

 the chances of catching the hare or of breaking their own 

 necks, the odds were hollow in favour of the latter. 



" The Deer of Mauritius is, I am disposed to believe, a 

 variety of tlie Cervus Axis. It is rather larger than the 

 fallow-deer. Its hair is of a chestnut colour, long and shaggy 

 on the old animals, and the male has a long beard. The 

 horns are from two to three feet long, and measure nearly 

 as much from point to point: they send off two successive 

 branches in front, and are studded all over with tubercles. 

 The deer frequent chiefly the districts of the Black River, and 

 the Savanne. When hard pushed by the hounds, they make 

 for the sea side, and dash into the water with as much bold- 

 ness as if it was their natural element. 



" The catalogue of the indigenous birds is nearly as brief 

 as that of the quadrupeds; and of them also, the most 

 interesting have been introduced from other countries. The 

 most remarkable of the latter is the Guinea-fowl {Numidia 

 Meleagris), of which large coveys are sometimes seen on the 

 outskirts of the forest. Tv/o species of the Partridge are 

 pretty abundant, one resembling the common partridge of 

 England; the other is the Tetrao Madagascarensis, called 

 from its spotted plumage, the ' Pintade.' 



" The Mayana {Gracula tristis) was brought at an early 

 period from the Molucca Islands, for the purpose of repress- 

 ing the ravages of the locust, which threatened the ruin of 

 the infant Colony. The circumstances attending the intro- 

 duction of these birds, are detailed in BufFon's Natural His- 

 tory, in which are also related, with due solemnity, the 

 charge preferred against them, of betraying their trust in 

 aiding the enemy whose progress they were called in to 

 check; their trial, their condemnation, and the summary 

 execution that followed. Nor does the historian pass over 

 the testimony of the Bourbon Faculty in their exculpation, 

 which, though it came too late to save the lives of that 



