FZOjRA and fauna 
5i 
blue colouring and with green opalescence on the back, 
is an inhabitant of the moor, as is also P. Alleni. 
, Flocks of white ox-peckers [^Bttphaga africana) intrude- 
themselves where the cattle are pastured, as they do in 
East Africa. Ibises and rails inhabit the lakes. Of the 
Natatores of Madagascar we know Nettopus aurihis^ 
Sarcidiornis melanohts^ Anas Melleri, the tree-goose 
{Dendrocygna arcuatd) and a grebe [Podiceps Pelzeli). 
The discussion of the feathered inhabitants of the 
island cannot be concluded without referring to the 
recently extinct species, which have a high scientific in¬ 
terest. As the discoveries made not long since prove 
unmistakably, the region of Madagascar possessed an 
uncommonly rich and peculiar fauna in its Cursores, whose 
remains have been gathered in the surface alluvium of 
the west as well as in the swamp deposits of Central 
Madagascar. The first specimen discovered dates from the 
year 1851, and was exhibited at the Paris Academy, on 
the 27 th of January of that year, by the French zoologist 
J. Geoffrey St. Hilaire. This was a gigantic egg, brought 
to Europe by Abadie, the captain of a trading vessel. 
Its major diameter was 12 inches and its capacity nearly 
two gallons, six times that of an ostrich’s egg. This egg, 
of which many perfect specimens have since been obtain¬ 
ed, was ascribed to a gigantic bird yppyornis maxmius. 
There was much discussion as to the position of this 
enormous bird, the Italian Bianconi thinking it to be a 
vulture, and that it must have been identical with the 
roc of the Venetian Marco Polo. In the year 1867 
Grandidier succeeded in finding remains of bones in the 
west, and among these was a heavy shin bone, 25 inches 
in length, from which it was clear that we had to do with 
a large bird of the ostrich kind. Besides this two smaller 
species were found [AEpyornis medms and yp. modestus). 
At a later time M. G. Muller dug up further remains 
in Antsirabe, about 25 miles south of Antananarivo, but 
