Acclimatisation in the Isle of Mauritius. 239 
tions made by d'Emmerez de Charmoy have confirmed this fad. 
The great Epeira of Madagascar, formerly so aljundant, 
and so useful, in spite of its repulsive appearance, has 
disappeared almost completely. Mr. Walter, director of the 
Observatory, who employed threads of uiese spiders for certain 
delicate astronomical instruinents, had to pay up to two rupees 
(3 ^r. 30) a spider to procure some. The Bulbuls have 
destroyed them. 
The Bulbuls have a marked tendency to albinism. In 
1910 a specimen was taken to the Museum of Port-Louis; others 
followed. The Natural History Museum possesses one that 1 
had in September 191 1. 
24. Serinus canicollis, Swains. 
" It is impossible to hide the ravages of the Cape-bird, a 
kind of small siskin, the only one of the inhabitants of these 
forests that I have heard sing. They were brought at first out 
of curiosity, but a few escaped into the woods, where they have 
multiplied greatly. They live at the expense of the crops. 
The government has set a price on their heads." 
(B. de Saint-Pierre. Voyage a I'llc dc France. 
Whether it is really this species or the next which is coii- 
cerned is a difficult matter to establish, for it seems that both 
were acclimatized about the same time. The Cape Canary has 
almost entirely disappeared from the island ,and the last mention 
of it was in 1893, when it existed still at tne bottom of an e.xtinct 
crater, the Stag-hole. 
The song of the Mustard-pot, as it is called in Reunion 
where it is fairly common, recalls that of the Canary; I discov- 
ered, in June 1898, a nest at .Salazie (isle of Reunion) which 
contained two blue eggs, slightly spotted with brown. The 
nest was a yard from the ground, in a bush of tree-heath 
(? arborescent heath). 
25. Serinus icterus, Vicil 
The Mozambique Canary is very common. It is rarely 
found at a lower altitude than 1,200 feet. It li\es for choice 
in the forests of the Casuarinas, and builds its nest there at a 
height which varies from 15 to 45 feet. The nest is a small cup 
of hair or grass, in which the bird lays three bluish eggs, slightly 
spotted with brown at the big end. Nests are, however, found 
on other trees, though more rarely. 
