INHABITING MADAGASCAR ETC. 45 



fully given ; and since the publication of their work * no doubt can have 

 been entertained on the subject. 



The fourth form was discovered in the Seychelles during Mr. Edward 

 Newton's investigation of the birds of that group of islands in 1867, and was 

 soon after described by him under the name of H. crassirostris f . 



Though the forms of Hypsipetes with which I have here to do have been 

 on the whole fortunate, considering the fate of other birds, in not being loaded 

 with any very cumbrous synonymy, it will be convenient, before ending this 

 paper, to give concisely the names under which they have been mentioned by 

 various writers. But I would first observe that the name of the genus is 

 undoubtedly of the masculine and not of the feminine gender, as was thought 

 by Jardine and Selby ; and thus, though in the foregoing passages 1 have 

 violated one of the first laws of grammar by making the adjective disagree 

 with its substantive in gender, I have only done this by way of quotation and 

 out of respect for what I hold to be a prime duty — the literal transcription, 

 errors included, of any phrase one may have to cite. 



Now, having delivered myself of these very dry historical details, it is 

 time to say something as to the birds themselves; and to begin, let us 

 consider the habitat of each. 



The four forms, or species, with which I now occupy myself have each 

 a very definite home. The first QH. madagascariensis) has the most extensive 

 range. It seems to be found almost everywhere in Madagascar, and is 

 recorded from the adjacent Comoro Islands, I have, indeed, never seen a 

 specimen that did not come from the " grande ile africaine ;" but I accept 

 unhesitatingly the statement of Mr. Sclater that a specimen obtained by 



* Eecherches sur la Faune de Madagascar et de ses Dependances. D'apres les decouvertes 

 de F. P. L. Pollen et D. C. van Dam. Part ii. pp. 96-98. Leyde : 1868. 

 t Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, pp. 344, 345 ; Ibis, 1867, pp. 344, 359. 

 VOL. II. H 



