144 Appendices 
Paris Museum, of which a magnificent coloured plate is given, 
two-thirds the natural size of the bird; and completed from the 
description by Brisson, who saw the living bird at Paris in 
1760.] 
The specimen, which is jealously preserved in the galleries 
of the Museum, has suffered, in consequence of the treatment to 
which it has unfortunately been submitted, some hundred years 
ago, certain deteriorations. The tints of its plumage have been 
slightly altered by sulphurous fumes, and it can be seen, by con¬ 
sulting the description of Brisson and the plate of Levaillant, 
that the hood must have been primitively of a very delicate pale 
grey lilac, of a lavender grey, that the deep brown tint of the 
back of the wings and tail offered grey reflexions which have dis¬ 
appeared, and that the lower parts of the body, even now notably 
brighter than the upper portions, were, like them, a little clouded 
with grey, or rather appeared grey when viewed in a certain 
light. 
In the paper which he has published on the Mascarin, 1 and in 
which he has reproduced the drawings of the beak and feet which 
were sent him by one of ourselves, Mr. Forbes has set forth some 
of the differences which this remarkable species offers from the 
Coracopsis with which it has been considered possible to class it ; 
but he has not sufficiently insisted upon several particularities 
worthy of being brought to notice. The Mascarin differs from 
the Vazas:—[Then follows an enumeration of technical differ¬ 
ences]. 
For these reasons, and for others besides, which it would be 
too long to enumerate, it is expedient we believe, to accept the 
genus Mascarinus , proposed by Lesson, and consequently to 
designate the species, by virtue of the laws adopted for nomen¬ 
clature, under the name of Mascarinus Duboisi , Forbes. 
[Follows a discussion whether the genus Mascarinus should be 
placed, as Lesson puts it, by the side of Tanygnathus , or next to 
Palccornis , as Forbes proposes, or, as suggested by R. Owen, to 
the extinct Parrot of Mauritius, Lophopsittacus mauritianus , and 
not far from the living Microglossus of New Guinea. The 
authors find that this last is the nearest allied genus, and without 
doubt they aver that certain affinities bring the Mascarinus and 
Lophopsittacus nearer Microglossus ,— i.e. to a Papuan rather than 
an African group.] 
1 Vide ante , Appendix D. Illustrations, pp. xvii, 91. 
