Zoological Affinities of Aphanaptoryx. 273 



When Strickland wrote these lines, nothing was known of 

 the Not amis (discovered in 1850), in which nearly all these 

 characters are found. But when, later, Prof. Schlegel* sought 

 to determine zoologically the former birds of the Mascarene 

 Islands, he ranked this species in the genus Notornis. It seems 

 to me that the Oiseau bleu cannot belong to any other group 

 than Purphyrio ; but, on the other hand, it seems to me very- 

 difficult to establish genera and species solely on the narratives 

 of travellers, who for the most part attaching only a very 

 secondary importance to questions of natural history, could not 

 have observed very attentively the characters of species, and 

 have given an account of them in an approximate manner. 

 Thus all the discussions which have been raised with respect to 

 the zoological place of the Oiseau bleu have been based on the 

 description of Dubois ; but was this accurate ? We may doubt 

 about it, because in a letter written by Brown, a Jesuit Mis- 

 sionary, and published in 1724, in the ' Lettres Edifiantes^t, 

 we find the following passage : — 



" Vers I'est de cette Isle, il y a une petite plaine au haut 

 d'une montagne, qn'on appelle la plaine des Coffres, ou I'on 

 trouve un gros oiseau bleu dont la couleur est fort eclatante. 

 11 ressemble a un pigeon ramier; il vole rarement, toujours 

 en rasant la terre, mais il marche avec une vitesse surprenante ; 

 les habitans ne lui ont point encore donne d' autre nom que 

 celui d'oiseau bleu ; sa chair est assez bonne et se conserve long- 

 temps"!. 



According to this author, not only was the Oiseau bleu only 

 of the size of a Wood-Pigeon, but it was able to fly. It is 

 difficult, not to say impossible, in this case to say on which side 

 the truth lies, and in which of the accounts the most confidence 

 should be placed. I have given this example to show what sort 



* [Versl. eu Mededeel. K. Ak. Wetensch. Natuurk., vii. p. 116 et seq. 

 Translated, Ibis, 1866, pp. 146-168.— Ed.]. 



t Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, ^crites des Missions etrangeres. Nou- 

 velie edition. Paris : 1781. Memoires des Indes, torn. xiii. p. 313. 



X [.Cf- 'The History of Mauritius,' &c., by Charles Grant. London: 

 1801, p. 167 : the passag-e quoted by Strickland ' Tlie Dodo,' &c., p. 60. 

 —Ed.]. 



