50 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



Aldabra Island, Mr. Meade-Waldo explained, 

 has a very small colony of negroes, comprising 

 about ten men, with women and children, who 

 work in the cocoa-nut plantations and in the 

 turtle-shell (commonly known as tortoiseshell) 

 industries, it being sub-let to a French firm who 

 undertake to preserve the rare fauna. The island 

 is about ioo miles round. 



Assumption, another of the 89 islands under 

 the Seychelles Government, is remarkable for 

 a flightless Rail peculiar to it, a chestnut-and- 

 white bird about the size of a Water-hen, but 

 heavier ; and also for a Ground Cuckoo and a 

 rare species of Dove. 



" All the birds of these islands are remarkably 

 tame," Mr. Meade-Waldo replied in answer to a 

 question as to whether Assumption's feathered 

 residents were as friendly as Aldabra's Ibis. 

 "The dove is generally supposed to be timid, 

 but youcould not frighten this bird on Assumption. 

 The island being uninhabited the only enemies 

 the birds have to fear are the land-crabs, but 

 theyalso probably sufferfrom occasional droughts, 

 as there is no permanent fresh water on the island. 

 These birds in general are not in much danger, 

 as the Seychelles are coral islands, extremely 

 difficult of approach, with dangerous channels 

 and changing currents ; they cannot be 

 approached at all by night. They are extra- 

 ordinarily interesting, because islands only five 

 or six miles apart support a distinct and 

 separate fauna. The only bird comparatively 

 general, where there are forests sufficient to 

 provide it with food, is a gorgeous Fruit Pigeon, 

 and this has an enemy in man for two reasons. 

 It has been killed a good deal for food, and 

 wherever the forests are cleared to make way for 

 the cocoa-nut of commerce, the fruits on which 

 it lives disappear, and as a consequence the 

 birds die out also. 



" In the principal island, Mahe, the Mynah 

 has been introduced, and unfortunately it now 

 exists in thousands and is crowding out the 

 native birds. The most beautiful of the natives 

 is the Sunbird, which has a very brilliant orange 

 or yellow tuft on the shoulder ; and there is 

 also a very noisy and quarrelsome Bulbul, and 

 an extremely rare and tiny species of Kestrel," 



The familiar name being reminiscent of 

 British birds, Mr. Meade-Waldo was asked if 

 he met with many, or any, birds of the kinds 

 known to us in Fngland, but so far at least as 

 species are concerned it appears there is nothing 

 the unlearned Englishman would recognise. " A 

 Scops Owl is found on Mahe, where it is very 

 rare but perhaps more numerous than is believed, 

 as being a nocturnal bird it is not seen ; and on 

 Aldabra there is another small Kestrel, which is, 

 however, dying out though it has apparently no 

 enemies. Among the coast-birds is a species 

 of Gannet, but more strange and interesting 

 are the glossy black Frigate-Bird, and the Red- 

 tailed Tropic or Bosun-Bird, with two long 

 pink feathers in its tail, which breeds in trees." 



The Seychelles, it will be remembered, 

 marked, in General Gordon's opinion, the site 

 of the primeval Eden, and the coco-de-mer he 

 identified as the original apple. 



"The coco-de-mer," said Mr. Meade-Waldo, 

 " grows in only one valley of one island, the 

 island of Praslin, and among these trees, and 

 there alone, lives the Berkeley Vasa Parrot, 

 which is so rare as to be on the very verge of 

 extinction. Fortunately the owner of Praslin 

 protects the birds very carefully." 



Another fascinating region visited by the party 

 was Brazil, where they were amazed by the great 

 numbers of birds, as regards both species and 

 individuals. Many of them are of most brilliant 

 plumage, and the plume-hunter is hot on their 

 trail, but happily the forests are vast and dense, 

 in many parts unpenetrated and impenetrable : 

 and the extreme thinness of population as com- 

 pared with the area of the country gives the 

 bird-life security from molestation of any other 

 kind. The great forest area, stretching across 

 the country at its widest part, is in itself about 

 as large as Australia, while the population is less 

 than half that of Eondon. 



"In Bahia," said Mr. Meade-Waldo, "the 

 bird most resembling our House-Sparrow in 

 its abundance and familiarity is Fluvicola 

 climaaira, a little bird resembling in appear- 

 ance the Desert Wheatear, black and biscuit- 

 colour ; but, unlike the Sparrow, it is entirely 

 insectivorous in diet. It goes in and out of 



