101 



SARCIDIORNIS MAURITIANUS 



NEWT. & GAD. 



Sarcidiornis mauritianus Newton & Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 290, pi. XXXIV, 

 figs. 9-10. 



THE evidence on which this species is founded is a single left metacarpal 

 and an incomplete left half of the pelvis. Its specific character is the 

 very large size as compared to the two existing species. 

 Habitat: Mauritius. 



In an old work entitled " Memorandums concerning India " by 

 J. Marshall (1668) in the article on the Island of Mauritius, there occurs 

 this passage : " They are many Geese ; the halfe of their wings towards the 

 end are black and the other halfe white; they are not large, but fat and 

 good. Plenty of Ducks." As there is no mention of the caruncle on the 

 bill here or in other authors alluding to geese in Mauritius, Oustalet doubted 

 that these geese were this Sarcidiornis, but I believe this merely to have 

 been an oversight of Marshall's and that his description goes far to prove 

 the distinctness of Newton and Gadow's species. 



The allusion to the small size also points to the geese of Marshall being 

 the Sarcidiornis. L'Abbe Dubois in " Les Voyages du Sieur D. B." records 

 the fact that on Bourbon were some wild geese slightly smaller than the 

 geese of Europe but having the same plumage. Their bill and feet were red. 

 It is also probable that wild geese were found on Rodriguez. There is 

 nothing to show what these Bourbon geese were, and as no osseous remains 

 of such birds have been found as yet it is impossible to do more than 

 mention the fact of such birds having been recorded. 



