346 APPENDIX. 



with Agapornis cana or Palceornis exsul, and furnishes one proof 

 the more of the changes wrought in the fauna of this ishind." 



Small Birds. — " It is difficult to know if the little birds which 

 Leguat compares (p. 84) to the canaries still live at Rodriguez. 

 Mr. E. Newton has only met with two sparrows in this island, 

 which, although much resembling the Malagasy species, differ 

 sufficiently from them to be inscribed in our catalogues under 

 separate names. One of these species or particular races is a 

 Foudia [F. fiavicans), the other a Drymceca (D. rodericana), and 

 they are both remarkable for a most pleasing song. Indeed, 

 Leguat states positively that the little birds of his island do not 

 sing. It seems to me, then, probable that there was not either 

 Foudia flavicans or Drymoeca rodericana. The introduction of 

 these birds must be of recent date, and I am inclined to think 

 that the sparrows observed by Leguat have undergone the same 

 fiite as the Solitaires and Frythromachi.^' 



Gumea-Foivls. — " The guinea-fowls did not exist in Rodriguez at 

 the time when Leguat made known to us with such exacti- 

 tude the productions of that island ; but since, these birds have 

 been introduced there, and now they live there in a wild state. 

 Thus Colonel Dawkins reports that he found only parrots 

 and a guinea-fowl. But we are ignorant to what species this 

 last bird belonged. However, the bones discovered by Mr. Newton 

 permit me to solve this problem ; and I am disposed to believe 

 that it is the Numida mitrata of Central Africa, and not Nwmida 

 tiarata, which now lives in Rodriguez." 



Flying Foxes. — " In order to finish with what is relative to terres- 

 trial animals whose remains have been found in the caverns of 



fessor Alph. Milne-Edwards. This naturalist easily recognised, at first 

 glance, that this fragment belonged to a parrot, a genus of birds which 

 appeared no longer to exist in Rodriguez. The anterior and middle jaor- 

 tions of the upper mandible sufficed for the determination of the cha- 

 racteristic type. From the difference of conformation, M. Milne- Edwards 

 concluded that it was extremely probable that this parrot of Rodriguez, 

 or Psittacus rodericanus., like that of Mauritius, was allied to the Loris, 

 and has become extinct. (Vide Memoir on a Fossil Psitlaclan of the 

 Jdund of Rodriguez, by INI. Alph. Milne-Edwards, Paris, 1866.) 



