336 Mr. E. Newton on the Land-Birds 



Mahe*, the largest and most important of these islands, is 

 about 17 miles long and 5 wide; the other larger islands ar( 

 Praslin and Ladigue to the north-east, and Silhouette to the 

 north-west. These are high and rocky, with a considerable tract 

 of forest still remaining upon them. 



After these general remarks I must proceed to the particular 

 subject of this paper. Ornithologists are aware that the avi- 

 fauna of these interesting islands is very little known, and what 

 few land-birds recorded as existing there were not recorded as 

 occurring elsewhere. Prior to the year 1865 only four species 

 were knowa ; they were : — 



(1) Tinnunculus gracilis. 

 (3) Nectarinia dussumieri. 



(3) Erythrcena pulcherrima. 



(4) Turtur rostratus. 



Tinnunculus gracilis was described by Lesson (Tr. d^Orn. 

 p. 93) from specimens in the Paris Museum, that author being 

 unaware of the locality whence they came ; and it is accurately 

 figured by M. 0. des Murs (Icon. Orn. pi. 25) from two 

 specimens in the Paris collection, which were discovered at Sey- 

 chelles in 1827 by Dussumier, and probably the same as those 

 described by Lesson. These are the only two original descrip- 

 tions of the species with which I am acquainted. Dr. Hartlaub, 

 however, mentions (Ornith. Madag. p. 19) that M. Jules Ver- 

 reaux had examined specimens of this species in Sganzin's col- 

 lection ; but on reference to the latter's " Notes sur les Mam- 

 miferes et sur rOruithologie de File Madagascar " f, there 

 seems no reason to suppose that these specimens were killed at 

 Seychelles, but rather at the island of St. Marie, a French colony, 

 ofi" the east coast of Madagascar, of which Sganzin was governor, 

 or on the " grande ile Africaine " itself, and therefore belong to 

 the allied species, the distinctness of which was pointed out by 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney (Ibis, 1863, p. 34). 



Nectarinia dussumieri was first described by Dr. Hartlaub 

 (Jouru. fiir Orn. 1860, p. 340) from two specimens in the Paris 



* This island, as well as the place of the same name on the south-west 

 coast of India, has its name from that of Mahe de Labourdonnais of histo- 

 rical celebrity. 



t Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Strasbourg, iii. 1840, p. 49. 



