of the Seychelles Archipelago, 349 



noirs " whistling far away. We were astonished to see several 

 large flying foxes {Pteropus) , thongh it wanted an hour to sunset, 

 sailing over head to a grove of mangoes below. These beasts are 

 quite diurnal, and evidently can see perfectly in daylight, as it is 

 very rarely that they will then approach within gunshot. At 

 night, however, they will fly within a few feet of a man's head, 

 and many are killed with long poles as they fly round the fruit- 

 trees. 



The following morning we went along the coast on the north- 

 east of the island, and in a swamp came upon a small colony of 

 " Veuves," where I succeeded in shooting three males in full 

 plumage. I only saw one brown-coloured example, but did not 

 get a shot at it. They are the most pugnacious birds I ever 

 saw, constantly chasing one another and fighting. These also 

 prove to belong to a new species, which I have described as 

 corvina* (Plate IV.). We were disappointed in not seeing more 

 birds. 



In the afternoon I went over the hill to the westward, and 

 near a piece of maize, then ripe, I saw several " Cateaux noirs,'' 

 and the '-' Pigeon hollandais." The Parrots were too cunning to 

 give me a fair shot, and they kept sitting above a hundred yards 

 ofl^ on the tops of the " cedres," enjoying the evening sun and 

 whistling pleasantly. I waited till sundown, but it was of no 

 avail ', they were not very hungry and did not care to risk coming 

 down to eat. The next morning we crossed over the same place, 

 and I shot two males and a female, all in the most wretched 

 plumage, just moulting, so that their feathers came off on merely 

 handling them ; I might have shot some more, but all that I saw 

 were in the same ragged state. We then descended to the sea 

 and walked along the shore for some two miles, sometimes for a 



* TCHITKEA COR\T^NA. 



T. major: mas adultus omnino chalybeo-niger, mediis rectricibus lon- 



gissimis. 

 Foemhia et mas juvenis capite chalybeo-nigro ; corpore supra castaneo, 



subtus albo ; remigibus fuscis, externe castaneo limbatis. 

 Descr. viaris vestitu nuptiali. — Unicolor, cbalybeo-niger ut Corvtis, rostro 



pedibusque nigris. 

 Long, tota (rectricibus mediis exceptis) circa 8"75, alae 3-45, caudse 

 11-5 (!), acrotarsi 0-75, dig. med. sine ungue O'O, hallucis sine ungue 3-5, 

 maxillae a fronte 0'53, ejusdem a rictu 0*99, mandibulse ab articulo 1-35 

 poll. Angl. 



