274 Mr. E. Newton^s Ornithological Notes from Mauritius. 



same bough, where they would begin to squabble and fight until 

 one lost his hold, when they would all start off again to repeat 

 the operation on another bough. They fly very fast and straight, 

 I was unable to make out anything of their breeding time or 

 locality, but from the appearance of two I dissected, the former 

 could not be very far distant. 



Geopelia striata. (Hartl. I. c. p. 67.) Tourterelle. 



Of this little Tourterelle there are plenty in Savanue. On the 

 5th of October I found a nest containing two eggs, on the top of 

 a large tuft of grass which was laid by the wind. The nest was 

 perhaps larger and more neatly put together than Doves' nests 

 usually are. 



In Grande Savaune, both going and returning, I saw several 

 Doves of what I supposed are called Tourterelles de Batavie. 

 They are larger than the last species ; but I could not get one. 



Francolinus MADAGASCARiENSis. (Hartl. /.c. p. 69.) Pintade. 



These birds are tolerably common about St. Martin. Alto- 

 gether I think we saw about nineteen brace, of which we killed 

 fourteen. They lie very close, and in good covert will almost 

 allow themselves to be trodden on before rising, but on bare 

 ground they run for a considerable distance. They were gene- 

 rally in pairs, though on two occasions we put up three together; 

 but from their habits it is not always easy to find the second 

 bird, when one has been flushed. They appear to keep in the 

 bushes and canes during the heat of the day, and to come out 

 night and morning to feed in the barren places and fallows. 

 The call of the male is a regular crow — " Kercuck, kercuck, ker- 

 kdrr." They seldom fly more than a couple of hundred yards, 

 and with about the speed of a badly-grown Pheasant in Septem- 

 ber, so that, if the nature of the ground will allow, they can be 

 nearly always marked down. With a good brace of pointers, I 

 think twenty brace might easily be killed in a day on that 

 ground : we had only one old dog, and did not take much 

 trouble about it ; but one day, in four hours' shooting (two in the 

 morning and two in the afternoon), we killed six brace and a 

 half. 



