148 Mr. E. Newton's Notes of a Visit 



country was covered with grass, pretty well eaten down by cattle ; 

 here and there were scrubby trees, mostly the resinous " Bois 

 d'Olive," a Vacoa [Pandanus, sp. ?), different, of course, from any- 

 thing in Mauritius, and an Acacia, very like A. lehbek. The 

 island is very well depicted in Mr. Higgin's drawings, engraved 

 in "The Dodo and its Kindred^' (plates iii. and iv. bis). It 

 may be generally described as a long hog-backed range of hills, 

 running from east to west, and sending out spurs to the sea-coast. 

 The height in the centre may be from 1000 to 1500 feet. There 

 is no forest, so far as I could learn ; and the tradition is that it 

 was destroyed by fire some forty or fifty years ago ; but this 

 story I think must be incorrect, as otherwise in so short a time 

 there would surely be some traces of it left, whereas there are 

 none. Moreover I cannot find that Leguat speaks of it as being 

 anything then beyond what it now is; and the place of his 

 settlement, with the trees dotted about, is drawn, barring the 

 Solitaires, just as it is now. 



To go on with my story : I soon saw the " yellow bird,'" 

 which a negro who was with me called a "zozo (i. e. oiseau) du 

 pays," and declared at first to be the only bird in the island. 

 He afterwards admitted the existence of a " Perruche" ; but that, 

 he said, was all. The " yellow bird " was perfectly tame ; and on 

 shooting one, I at once saw that it was of the same species as the 

 skin sent from here, nearly twenty years ago, by Colonel Lloyd, 

 and which I had been lately disposed to think was an accidental 

 variety either of Foudia madagascariensis or F. erythrocephala. 

 It is, however, decidedly distinct, and a very well-marked spe- 

 cies * too. It has a very pretty song, not unlike that of the 



* The specimens sent home by Mr. Edward Newton were exhibited at 

 the meeting of the Zoological Society of London, 4th January, 1865, and 

 the following diagnosis given of the species therein designated. 



" Foudia flavicans, sp. nov. 

 " F. major, capite et pectore pulchre luteis, alis unifasciatis, pedibus vali- 



dioribus. 

 " Descr. maris adulti. Olivaceo-virens, dorso striolato; subtus paUidior ; 

 capite, coUo, pectore et uropygio pulchre luteis, capistro et genibus 

 rubro-aurantiaco ardescentibus ; abdomine medio albido-lutescente ; 

 alis albido late unifasciatis ; regionibus ophthalmicis nigris ; rostro 

 gracili, subincurvo, nigro ; pedibus validioribus, dilute brunneis ; iridi- 

 bus perfuscis. 

 " Long, tota 5, alse 2"72, caudae TO, acrotarsi '85, dig. med. cum un- 



