284 Messrs. A. and E. Newton on the Psittaci 



Here it is to be remarked that the specific term eques, 

 conferred by Boddaert on the subject figured in the ' Planches 

 Enluminees' (No. 215) ^ properly belongs to the Parrakeet of 

 Reunion — the bird there represented being called " Perruche 

 de Vile de Bourbon," whence De Buffon (Hist. Nat. Ois. vi. 

 p. 144) expressly says it was brought, identifying it also with 

 the " Perruche a collier de I'Isle de Bourbon " of Brisson (Orn. 

 iv. p. 328, pi. xxvii. fig. 1), who likewise states that it is found 

 there. It now no longer inhabits Reunion, and whether a 

 specimen from that locality anywhere exists is not known to 

 us. Judging from the general dissimilarity of the avifauna 

 of that island and of Mauritius^, we should be inclined to 

 suppose that each had its peculiar Palaornis ; and, in the 

 event of this being found to be the case, we would venture to 

 suggest the term echof being applied to the Mauritian bird, 

 which, no doubt, answers in nearly all particulars to the true 

 eques. 



It has just been stated that the Palceofnis is extinct in Re- 

 union. That island, indeed, is at present destitute of any 

 indigenous Parrot; for though M. Maillard ('Notes sur Pile 

 de la Reunion,^ p. 162) includes Coracopsis vasa as being 

 found there, it has obviously been introduced thither from Ma- 

 dagascar :j: . But Parrots there were once, and of several species, 



* The only indigenous species of Land-birds common to the two islands 

 are, we believe, Collocaliafrancica, Phedina borhonica and Tchitrea borbonica. 

 The Hypsipetes, the Oxytiotus, and all the species of Zosterojjs are distinct. 

 The original Foudia of Reunion (Eniberiza borbonica, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 

 p. 886, founded on the Mordore of De Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois. iv. p. 366, 

 PI. Enl. 321. fig. 2j we have never seen, the species now found in the 

 island being F. madagascariensis, believed to be an importation. 



t 'Hxo>, nympha quasdam, imitatrix equitis — sc. Narcissi. Ov. Metam. 

 iii. 380. 



\ The introduction of the other species of Coracopsis seems also to have 

 been once effected ; for in the ' Voyage dans les quatre principales iles des 

 mers d'Afrique ' of Bory de St. "Vincent, performed in 1801 and 1802, 

 where the author is telling of an excursion in Reunion, we have this pas- 

 sage (i. pp. 350, 351): — "Nous nous etions arretes un instant pour tuer 

 des merles [^Hypsipetes borbonicus, of course], dont nous trouvions una 

 prodigieuse quantite, lorsque j'entendis quelques sifilemena aigres, que 

 notre guide me dit etre ceux d'une espece de perroquet noir ; nous nous 



