120 
HISTORY OF MAURITIUS. 
C{ The foil is so denominated, because it lights upon ships, and suffers itself to be 
taken: its back is of a chesnut colour, and its belly white : the beak is pointed, very 
thick towards the head, and notched on the sides; its legs are short, and its feet are 
like those of the duck, and of a pale-yellow. 
" The Faille en queue is about the size of a pigeon, and entirely white ; it has a 
short and- strong beak, and a feather in its tail, about a foot and a half in length, 
from whence it takes its name. These birds waged a curious war with us, or rather 
with our caps: they used suddenly to attack us behind, and snatch them from off 
our heads; so that we were obliged to carry sticks, in order to defend ourselves 
against these extraordinary hostilities ; but we could never discover the use to 
which these thievish birds applied their booty, or whither they carried it. The ferret 
and the pluto will be described among the birds of the Isle of France. 
ct In the Isle of Rodriguez there is but one kind of small bird, and it resembles the 
canary bird: we however never heard it sing, though it was so familiar as to perch 
on a book at the moment we were reading it. 
,<l There are green and blue parroquets in great abundance, which are of a mode¬ 
rate size : the flesh of the young ones is as delicate as that of young pigeons. There 
are also sea larks and snipes, and a very few swallows. 
<( The bats fly about during the day like other birds; they are as large as a pullet, 
ahd each wing is about two feet in length. They never perch, but hook themselves 
to the branches of trees by their feet, with their head hanging downwards; and as 
their wings are also furnished with hooks, they do not readily fall to the ground 
when struck, but remain attached to the boughs: indeed, when Seen at some distance 
enveloped in their wings, they have the appearance of fruit rather than of birds. 
The Dutch at the Isle of France considered them as a delicate food, and pre¬ 
ferred it to that of any other fowl. We however could not bring ourselves to eat 
them. They carry their young, of which they have always two, wherever they go, 
and never quit them till they are able to fly. 
{t The palm trees and lataniers are covered with lizards about a foot in length, 
■Whose beauty was a frequent object of our admiration : they are black; gray, blue, 
green, and red, and of the most brilliant tints. Their common food is the fruit of 
the palm tree. They are . not in the least, obnoxious j and we found them so familiar, 
that they used to come and eat the melons* not only on the table, but from our 
hands. They are the prey of birds, and particularly of the. bitterns: when we 
threw them down from the trees with a pole, the latter used to run to the spot 
