Acclliiialisafiuii in the hlc of Slanntius. 237 
([nets have been introduced from Madagascar, we venture to 
differ on this point from all the authors who have described the 
ornitholo.n'ical fauna of the isle. We base this opinion on two 
passai^es: one from Les^uat (1), (f/V/c Oustalet. Ix. it) in which 
he says, " I'arrots of all kinds abound there." This supports 
a passaj^e in vol. i., where he speaks of " ^reen and blue parrots 
which are found there in great number " (i.e. at Rodriguez). 
r)ul)ois. on the other hand, after speaking of the drey Parrots 
of Bourbon {Mascarinns Diiboisi) and the Palcornis cqucs, 
adds: " Parrots of three kinds, as above, which are no bigger 
than Blackbirds." 
Bernardin de Saint-I'ierre : " I have seen several kinds 
of parrots there. Init of no great beauty. There is a kind of 
green parrot with a grey hood. They are big as Sparrows; one 
can never tame them. They destroy the crops; they are rather 
good to eat." 
Milbert (2): "I was diverted from these painful feelings 
by the beauty of the small paroquets wdiich flew above the trees 
and were so light that they rested on the most slender plants 
without making them bend. The plumage of this pretty bird 
is generally light green, with a shade of grey on the head, the 
throat, the front of the neck; for this reason Buffon has named it 
the grey-headed paroquet." This traveller frequently dwells 
on these birds, which proves that they were very numerous at 
the beginning of the 19th century. They still exist throughout 
the isle. In summer they go in pairs, covering a v.ide space 
around their nest, which is built in the hollow of some dead tree. 
In winter they unite in small bands of 8 to 15, probably all the 
brood. Their flight is extremely rapid, oblique, zigzag; they 
look like green bats. M. d' Emmerez de Charmoy obtained in 
1912 several eggs from a pair in captivity; they were light, white, 
elliptical, almost globular. 
(1) vol. 2. p. 72. (2) vol. I. p. 294. 
22. Otocompsa cincvia. Linnc. 
T have already described the introduction of this bird to 
!\lauritius (i). In 191 1 the Hiillctiu a^riculc dc File Maurice 
(p. 531) confirmed what I had said, but meanwhile the 
Manricicn, one of the local papers, put back acclimatization to a 
much more distant date — about 1880; but this theory must be 
wrong, for it is impossible that so prolific a bird should escape 
