Part 33

Total length 16 inches. Wing 7.5 " Tail 8.5 "

Probably almost if not quite extinct. Recent investigations about its status are very desirable.

Habitat: Rodriguez Island. {66}

PALAEORNIS WARDI E. NEWTON.

(PLATE 20.)

Palaeornis wardi E. Newton, P.Z.S. 1867, p. 346 (Seychelles).

The translation of Sir Edward Newton's diagnosis is as follows: "Similar to P. alexandri, but with a stouter bill, purple red shoulder patches, and the hind neck without a red band.

"Adult Male. Crown of head and throat bluish, cheeks ochraceous green, chin and line round base of mandible black, continued in a stripe from the gape to the hind neck; back and wings grass green; rump brighter; a single wide band (or patch) on the shoulders purplish red; remiges and rectrices deep green washed with blue, the latter yellowish, the former dusky below; belly yellowish green; bill vivid scarlet with paler tip; feet dusky. Total length 16 inches, wings 7.75, tail 9."

Female similar to the male but duller, and with the bill all black, and without the black mandibular stripe.

Formerly abundant on most of the islands in the Seychelles, especially Mahé, but now confined to the little islet of Silhouette, where it will in all probability become extinct. According to E. Newton its name was "Cateau vert."

Habitat: Seychelles Islands. {67}

PALAEORNIS EQUES (BODD).

Psittaca borbonica torquata Briss., Orn. IV p. 328, pl. XXVII f. 1 (1760). (Bourbon.)

Psittacus alexandri var. [gamma] Linnaeus, S.N. p. 142 (1766).

Perruche à collier de l'Isle de Bourbon Daubenton, Pl. enl. 215.

Perruche à double collier Buff., Hist. Nat. Ois. VI, p. 143 (1779).

Alexandrine Parrakeet var. C. Double Ringed Parrakeet Latham, Syn. I p. 326 (1781).

Psittacus eques Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 13 (1783).

Psittacus semirostris Hermann, Obs. Zool. p. 125 (1804).

Psittacus bitorquatus Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 92 (1820).

Rose Ringed Parrakeet var. B. Latham, Gen. Hist. II p. 161 (1822).

Psittacus bicollaris Vieillot, Enc. Meth. III p. 1385 (1823).

Palaeornis bitorquatus Vigors, Zool. Journ. II p. 51 (1825).

Palaeornis borbonicus Bp., Rev. and Mag. Zool. 1854, p. 152. No. 140.

There has been considerable confusion with regard to this parrot. It was first asserted that it occurred on both Bourbon and Mauritius. Then Professor Newton separated the Mauritius bird as Pal. echo. Salvadori, however, in Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XX, p. 442, reunited the Bourbon and Mauritius birds, while quite unaccountably stating only Mauritius as the habitat.

The Abbé Dubois describes this bird as follows: "Green Parrots as large as pigeons having a black collar."

Now the species of Palaeornis from Rodriguez, the Seychelles, and the mainland of Africa are all distinct, and the other land birds of Mauritius are and were different from those of Bourbon. I therefore feel quite certain that Professor Newton is right, and that his Palaeornis echo is distinct from P. eques, though, unfortunately, we do not know in which way the two forms differed.

Habitat: Bourbon or Réunion, but now extinct. No specimens known. {68}