33» Prof. Newton on an undescribed Parrot 



whether, under the terms of a will, specifying certain " black 

 and white horses/' the plaintiff should have horses which were 

 ' pyed/' It does not seem that this celebrated cause was ever 

 settled ; for the learned Martinus Scriblerus, who reports it, con- 

 cludes by saying, "Et sur ceo le court advisare vult •/' and so in 

 the present case ornithologists were compelled to suspend their 

 judgment. 



A little more light is thrown on this obscure subject by the 

 following excerpts from Pingre's journal, kindly transcribed for 

 me some time ago by Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards from 

 the original manuscript then preserved in the library of Ste. 

 Genevieve at Paris. Pingre was in Rodriguez in 1761, occu- 

 pied with observations on the transit of Venus. He writes 

 (p. 195) : — " La perruche me semblait beaucoup plus delicat.'" 

 [He had just been mentioning the esculent qualities of a species 

 of Pteropus.'] " Je n'aurais regrette aucun gibier de France, si 

 celui ci cut ete plus commun h Rodrigue : mais il commence h 

 devenir rare. H y a encore moins de perroquets quoiqu'il y en 

 ait eu encore autrefois en assez grande quantite, selon Fi-. 

 Leguat, et en effet une petite isle au sud de Rodrigue a encore 

 conserve le nom d'Isle aux perroquets." It would hence appear 

 that there was a " Perruche " and a " Perroquet/-' though un- 

 fortunately Pingre does not say what either was like. 



Now it will perhaps be recollected that in 1864 my brother 

 Edward observed a flock, and obtained an example of what he 

 believed to have been Affapornis cana in Rodriguez (Ibis, 1865, 

 p. 149) ; but this is said to have been a species introduced there, 

 no doubt since Leguat's time. On the other hand, in 1867 

 Professor Alphonse Milne-Edwards described the fragment of a 

 Parrot's maxilla, found in the caves of that island with bones of 

 its Solitaire [Pezophaps solitarius), and sent to my brother by 

 Mr. George Jenner. This very indifferent relic was admirably 

 shown * by that accomplished ornithologist to have many re- 

 semblances to the genus Eclectus, to which he doubtfully referred 

 it under the name Psittacus [Eclectus ?) rodericanus. The large 

 size of the bird (to whatever group it belonged), equally with 



* Ann. Sc. Nat. (5) Zool. viii. pp. 145-156, pis. 7, 8; C. R. Ixv. pp. 

 1121-1125. 



