340 Mr. E. Newton on the Land- Birds 



for making roads, these necessary works for the prosperity of a 

 community are being rapidly pushed on by Mr. Ward, and 

 probably by this time a good road has been completed from 

 Victoria to Anse Nord-Ouest (North-west Bay) on the opposite 

 side, and another for some seven miles along the south-east 

 coast. With the increasing cocoa-nut plantations and the 

 great improvement in the town and neighbourhood, Mah^ may 

 be considered to be in a most prosperous condition ; and if there 

 were only a little more energy in its inhabitants, it would soon 

 become a very valuable possession. 



My first few days at Mahe were employed in investigating the 

 immediate vicinity of Port Victoria. I was much struck with 

 the scarcity of fine flowering shrubs or plants, though this was 

 the season of the north-west monsoon, the summer of Seychelles. 

 Insect-life, too, was very scarce : during the whole month I was 

 there I did not see three dozen individual butterflies ; and 

 Mr. Nevill, who caught every one he could, did not succeed 

 in getting specimens of more than four species during that 

 time. At night the stillness was unlike the tropics, hardly 

 a cricket or Cicada to be heard ; and one might have fancied 

 one's self in Europe, so silent were the hours of darkness. Bird- 

 life also was very scarce, both in species and individuals. 

 Formerly birds were much commoner, said the Creoles, but 

 have decreased owing to the ravages of rats, and cats and dogs 

 which have taken to the bush. The " Pie chanteuse," which 

 used to be familiar at most places, was said now to be extinct at 

 Mahe^, and only to be found in reduced numbers at Praslin, 

 Aride, and Marianne. The " Pigeon hollandais," I was told, 

 became yearly rarer. The " Cateau vert," from the constant 

 persecution against it brought on by its unfortunate partiality 

 for ripe maize, was said to be nearly exterminated, and the 

 " Cateau noir '' only now to be found at Praslin. 



Mr. Ward had kindly procured me a few live birds for the 

 Zoological Society, and amongst them was the " Cateau noir " 

 from Prashn ; this bird is now alive in the Society's Gardens. 

 He had also three skins of the "Cateau vert" killed at 



* On my voyage home, however, I was told by a naval officer, who 

 had been at the south end of the island, they were still to be found there. 



