o/ the Mascarene Islands. 285 



ill Bourbon ; and the proper habitat of one of these appears 

 to us to have been so seriously mistaken by many recent 

 authors, that some little space may well be devoted to the 

 investigation of the matter. 



Whatever may have been the Psittacus obscurus of Linnaeus 

 (S. N. ed. 12, p. 140), founded on a "Parrot from Africa '^ 

 which came under Hasselquist's notice during his travels in 

 the East (It. Paljest. p. 2m, fide Linn.), and at first (1766) 

 identified by Linnseus with "Le Perroquet Mascarin/' o^ 

 Brisson (Orn. iv. p. 315), there can be no question as to the 

 latter, on which, in 1771, was established the P. mascarin — 

 an abbreviation most likely for P. mascarinus — of Linnseus 

 (Mantiss. p. 524), that author citing also Daubenton's figure 

 (PI. Enl. 35), and adding " Habitat in Mascarina " — the last 

 piece of information being doubtless obtained (for Brisson 

 had said, " J'ignore dans quel pays on le trouve. Je Pai vu 

 vivant a Paris.'^) from De Buffon, Avho stated (Hist. Nat. Ois. 

 vi. p. 121), ^'M. le Vicomte de Querhoent nous assure qu^on 

 ie trouve a Pile de Bourbon oii probablement il a ete trans- 

 porte de Madagascar.^' This probability appears very ques- 

 tionable, as much so as Buffon's assertion that the bird received 

 its name " parce qu'il a autour du bee une sorte de masque 

 noir qui engage le front, la gorge et le tour de la face.'^ 

 Du Bois, who visited Madagascar and Bourbon in 1669-72, 

 gives the following account of the Parrots of the latter : — 



t( Perroquets gris, qui sont aussi bons que des Pigeons, 

 " Voila le meilleur Gibier de I'Isle. 



''II y a de plusieurs autres sortes de Perroquets, dont on ne mange 

 point; sgavoir. 



mimes a la rechercbe de cet oiseau, et nous en tuames deux. Le •perro- 

 quet noir vit solitaire dans les bois les plus eleves ; il mord violemment : 

 la tristesse de ses moeurs repond a celle de son plumage." In a footnote 

 he refers his birds to Psittacus nigei\ Gmelin (S. N. i. p. 336) i. e. Cora- 

 copsis niger (Linn.). Speaking of the same island in another place (iii. 

 p. 64), he says: — "Quelques perroquets solitaires, dont j'entendis des 

 sifflemens aigus, mais dont je ne pus tuer un seul, peuplent la circonference 

 du volcan." In this last passage he does not refer the birds to any species ; 

 but, from the similarity of phrase, he most likely considered them the 

 same as those he had before seen and determined. 



