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As to the Cateau Yert Palaonus Wardi , I only saw one in all 
iny walks and that was the first day of my arrival, and though 
I employed a man on purpose to hunt lor them I did not suc- 
ceed. They tell me these birds have been so destructive to 
the maize and other grain that the people have waged war on 
them, till they will soon be extinct. The Cateau Noir, Coraco- 
psis Barklyi are seen at tin • s but they are scarce. They seem 
to patronize the Filaos, ( Casuarina ) which I find are called 
Cedres at Praslin. I saw a few ot the Pie Chanteuse Copsicus 
Seychellarum near Mr Campbell’s house which he told me he 
had brought from the Island of Ladigue, in hopes to renew 
the breed, as he said he did not think there was one left in 
Praslin. 
“ The heat was oppressive, for the tops of these mountains 
are only covered with scanty bush, of slight growth shewing 
that it had only been there since the last conflagration. Fires 
are of frequent occurence and do terrible damage to the trees 
especially the Cocos de mer. The island is not quite 8 miles 
long by about 3 broad, wit h a good deal of marsh land on the 
coast, and doubtless from this upwards the mountains were 
formerly very densely wooded but now, timber trees are very 
rare. 
“ We passed over the point of the continuous chain of 
mountains to the N. E. and then descended to the shore. We 
found some Tatamaca trees of great size which Mr Horne pro- 
nounced of a different species to those growing in Mauritius. 
I was surprised to find such a scarcity of animal life. During 
our long walk the only birds I saw were tlioso already 
mentioned and the Merle Hypsipetes crassirostris . The latter 
bird appears common in the island and so tame it is easily 
approached I shot several, and prepared their skins. I did not 
see a specimen of coleoptera although I looked carefully in 
places most likely to meet them. I caught a fine Death’s head 
the T3racliyglos$a Atropos , which appeared more like the Euro- 
pean than the Mauritian type. The only other animals I found 
were some large green lizards and these wcro so unlike the 
generality of lizards, that I caught them by hand without any 
trouble. 
