700 LT.-COL. N. MANDERS ON THE 



one feeding in the wild state. In mj^ aviary its food consisted of 

 bananas, potatoes, and choux-choux, Sechium edule (boiled). But 

 when left to its own instincts, it must, like the other winged 

 denizens of the forest, have eaten insects as is done by its 

 companion in the fore.sts, the Bourbon Blackbird [Hypsipetes 

 oUvaceus) *, and as is the habit of most fruit-eating birds." 



This is a sad commentary on our boasted civilization, and I have 

 only to .add that not half a dozen skins are now in existence. 



This bird cannot have been in any way the cause of this 

 mimicry, as it inhabited the forest-covered hills in the interior of 

 the island, where these butterflies do not occur. 



Fapilio phorhanta female was figured by Boisduval in 1833 and 

 diffeis in no way from recent specimens. We may therefore infer 

 that the factor or factors which primarily induced this change of 

 colouring are still active ; but as there is no reptile or any bird 

 now living which attacks these butterflies as adults, it is difficult 

 to accept this as an effect produced by them. And it would 

 seem that the young of existing birds, with possibly one or two 

 exceptions, would be too small and feeble to attack these large 

 butterflies during their tasting experiments. 



I now turn to the island of Mauritius, which lies some eighty 

 miles to the north of Bourbon and which is visible from there on 

 a clear day at certain seasons of the yeai". 



Mauritius. 



Mauritius has no aiboreal lizards, and but one species of ground- 

 lizard, in appearance very like the English Sand-Lizard. It is 

 confined to the coast, and is I believe somewhat uncommon. I 

 found it in some numbers on the uninhabited islet of the He de 

 la Passe at the entrance of Mahebourg harbour. It was quite 

 tame, even confidential, and made no display of timidity in taking 

 and eating a small piece of boiled potato presented to it on the 

 end of a fork. We may, I pi-esume, regard this lizard as an 

 indiscriminate feeder ! 



My friend M. d'Emmeiez de Charmoy, Director of the Port 

 Louis MvTseum, a Mauritius gentleman who has an unrivalled 

 knowledge of the fauna, and who has tracked, shot, skinned, 

 dissected and mounted the whole of the splendid collection of 

 Mauritius birds in the Port Louis Museum, has very kindly 

 favoured me with the following list and notes on the insectivorous 

 birds ; it can be taken as complete, and I doubt whether any 

 local fauna of a tropical island is so completely known as is this 

 to M. de Chainnoy. 



I have added a few notes of my own in square brackets. 



L Le Mangeur de Poule (Tinnunculus punctatus) [Cerchneis 

 punctata]. 



Feeds preferably on insects rather than on small birds. 



* This bird occurs in Mauritius, but was not given to me by the Curator of the 

 Museum as an inaectivorous bird. 



