BLACK PARROTS 95 



stretching for four hundred miles into the interior 

 of Madagascar. 



As soon as we had lunched we set off, under 

 the guidance of one of the officers who was a keen 

 entomologist, to explore a strip of forest in a small 

 valley near the camp. Every valley in this 

 neighbourhood was filled with luxuriant vegetation, 

 while the sides and summits of the hills were 

 covered with good pasture. In this particular 

 valley a path led from the camp to a patch of 

 cultivated ground, which was about half an hour's 

 walk below us. The forest was full of birds, but 

 they were not easy to see, on account of the height 

 of the trees and the thick foliage. As we walked 

 down, I saw a smaU hawk, much like a sparrow- 

 hawk, sitting on a branch of one of the trees, and, 

 on shooting it, I found it was Astur franciscce, 

 a species which is peculiar to Madagascar. 



As we entered the cultivation at the bottom of 

 the valley, a large dark-coloured bird flew overhead 

 uttering a loud, but most musical, whistle. This 

 proved to be one of the Madagascar " black " 

 parrots — Coracopsis vasa. We were much sur- 

 prised at the extremely rapid flight of this bird, 

 as it dashed over us with outstretched neck, into 

 the forest. The following day we had a good view 

 of a pair of these parrots sitting in the top of a tree 

 close to the camp, and we also became acquainted 

 with a smaller species — C. nigra. These parrots 

 are, we were informed, quite common in every 



