84 Captain R. Meinertzliagen on 



habitations, whilst nearly all the introduced species have 

 shunned the forests and wilder parts of the island. 



It is a peculiar fact that all the proved native birds of 

 Mauritius should be so confiding. Without one single 

 exception they are ludicrously tame. Also nearly all of them 

 have a sad plaintive note, and even their alarm-note is 

 more a cry for mercy than a scream o£ terror. The song of 

 the Merle or Coq de Bois, or the mournful cooings of the 

 Pigeon des Marres, all express sadness, and heard in the 

 dense forests of Mount Cocotte or in the Black Biver 

 gorges, they make one curse the civilization that has 

 brought such birds to the verge of extinction. 



Although human agency is responsible for the extirpa- 

 tion of most of the Mauritian species, it cannot be held to 

 be directly so. The I'avages of pig, monkey, and mongoose 

 must bear the full blame of such thorough and wholesale 

 destruction. 



For centuries the Mauritian birds have habitually sought 

 their food in the wild forests which formerly clothed the 

 whole island. As these have receded, so have the birds. 

 Pigs and monkeys, introduced in the 16th century by the 

 Portuguese, and the mongoose, recently brought in, have 

 also become accustomed to make their homes in the forest, 

 as much for convenience as for safety's sake. The pig has 

 succeeded in extirpating all the ground birds, such as the 



Ground Parrot, and the monkey is now hard at work on 

 the arboreal species. Even so long ago as ]801, Grant, 



in his ' History of Mauritius,' says : "The l)irds very much 



diminish in the woods, as the monkeys, which are in great 



numbers, devour the eggs." 



In the following list I give the French or Creole names as 



used in Mauritius. I have marked with an asterisk those 



birds that have been introduced, and at the end I append a 



list of the species protected by law. 



I wish here to express my thanks to both Monsieur 



Emmerez de Charmoy and Monsieur Hart, of Mauritius, for 



the frequent help they have given me in identifying the 



species and in other ways. 



