286 Messrs, A. and E, Newton on the Psittaci 



" Perroquets un peu plus gros que pigeons, ayant le plumage de couleiir de 

 petit gris, un chaperon noir sur la teste, le becq fort gros, & coxdeur de feu. 



" PeiToquet* vei-ts gros comme pigeons, ayant un collier noir. 



"Perroquets verts de n esme [mesme] grosseiu*, ayant la teste, le dessus 

 des ailes, & la queue couleur de feu. 



*' Perroquets tout verts de la mesme grosseur. 



"Perroquets des trois fa^ons comme cy-dessus, qui ne sont pas plus 

 gros que des Merles."* 



NoWj considering that Du Bois was not a technical orni- 

 thologist^ his indication of these diflFerent kinds of Parrots 

 seems to be reasonably good, and the first of those which he 

 says are not eaten may fairly be identified with " Le Mas- 

 car in" though the black on the face of that bird cannot be 

 correctly described as forming a " chaperon/' But if we 

 reject this identification we shall find that we have to account 

 for two species of Parrot, both connected with the same island 

 and, so far as we can judge, very similar in appearance, differing, 

 indeed, only in the position of a black mark on the head. 



De Querhoent's assurance was confirmed in 1784 byMau- 

 duyt, who says (Encycl. Meth. ii. p. 196) : — " On trouve le mas- 

 carin a File de Bourbon ; j'en ai vu plusieurs vivans a Paris ; 

 c'etoient des oiseaux assez doux ; ils n^avoient en leur favour 

 que leur bee rouge qui tranchoit agreablement sur le fond 

 sombre de leur plumage; ils n^avoient point appris a parler.^' 



It is true that for many years past Madagascar has been 

 given as the habitat of P. mascarinus ; it is therefore worth 

 while enquiring into the evidence in favour of that locality; 

 and it will be found that — apart from the supposition, already 



* * Les Voyages faits parle Sieur D. B. aux Isles Daupliine ou Madagas- 

 car, & Bourbon, ou Mascareune, es anuees 16G9. 70. 71. & 72, , . Paris , . . 

 M.DC.LXxiv.' (pp. 172, 173), This work, it may be remarked, attracted 

 no attention from naturalists till, Telfair having given the Zoological 

 Society a MS. cop}-^ of it, Strickland quoted therefrom the passage relating 

 to the Solitaire and Oiseau bleu of Bourbon (P. Z. S. 1844, p. 78), but was 

 not aware, even in 1848, of the author's name, or that the journal had 

 ever been printed — a fact, indeed, generally overlooked until pointed out 

 in 1852 by Mr. Pinkerton ('Notes and Queries,' vi. p. 83), and after- 

 wards by Dr. Coquerel ('Album de ITle de la Reunion,' 1863), but still 

 more prominently set forth by M. Milne-Edwards, who, in 1860, reprinted 

 the whole of the ornithological portion of the work (Ann. Sc. Nat, Zool. 

 ser. 5, vi. p. 42, note). 



