67 



PALAEORNIS EQUES (BODD). 



Psittaca borbonica torquata Briss., Orn. IV p. 328, pi. XXVII f. 1 (1760). (Bourbon.) 

 Psittacus alexandri var. y Linnaeus, S.N. p. 142 (1766). 

 Perruche d collier de I'lsle de Bourbon Daubenton, PI. enl. 215. 

 Perruche a double collier Buff., Hist. Nat. Ois. VI, p. 143 (1779). 



Alexandrine Parrakeet var. C. Double Ringed Parrakeet Latham, Syn. I p. 326 (1781). 



Psittacus eques Boddaert, Tabl. PI. Eni. p. 13 (1783). 



Psittacus semirostris Hermann, Obs. Zool. p. 125 (1804). 



Psittacus bitorquatus Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 92 (1820). 



Rose Ringed Parrakeet var. B. Latham, Gen. Hist. II p. 161 (1822). 



Psittacus bicollaris Vieillot, Enc. Meth. Ill p. 1385 (1823). 



Palaeornis bitorquatus Vigors, Zool. Journ. II p. 51 (1825). 



Palaeornis borbonicus Bp., Rev. and Mag. Zool. 1854, p. 152. No. 140. 



THERE has been considerable confusion with regard to this parrot. 

 It was first asserted that it occurred on both Bourbon and 

 Mauritius. Then Rrofessor Newton separated the Mauritius bird as 

 Pal. echo. Salvadori, however, in Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XX, p. 442, reunited 

 the Bourbon and Mauritius birds, while quite unaccountably stating only 

 Mauritius as the habitat. 



The Abbe Dubois describes this bird as follows : " Green Parrots as 

 large as pigeons having a black collar." 



Now the species of Palaeornis from Rodriguez, the Seychelles, and the 

 mainland of Africa are all distinct, and the other land birds of Mauritius are 

 and were different from those of Bourbon. I therefore feel quite certain 

 that Professor Newton is right, and that his Palaeornis echo is distinct 

 from P. eques, though, unfortunately, we do not know in which way the two 

 forms differed. 



Habitat : Bourbon or Reunion, but now extinct. No specimens known. 



