Extinct Birds Part 11

1 in Pisa.

1, rather poor and old, in Leyden.

1 in Stockholm.

1 in the Museum at Port Louis, on the island of Mauritius.

1 in the collection of the late Baron de Selys Longchamps.

1 in Genoa.

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NECROPSAR GUNTHER & NEWTON.

The authors state that this genus was very closely allied to _Fregilupus_, and, besides some minor differences, give as the princ.i.p.al difference the shorter and less curved bill.

NECROPSAR RODERICa.n.u.s GUNTH. & NEWT.

(PLATE 2, FIG. 2.)

_Necropsar roderica.n.u.s_ Gunther & Newton, Phil. Trans. vol. 168, p.

427, pl. XLII, figs. A-G (1879).

The original description given by the anonymous author of the "Relation de l'Ile Rodrigue" is as follows:--"These birds are a little larger than a blackbird, and have white plumage, part of the wings and the tail black, the beak and the legs yellow, and make a wonderful warbling." Our author also says they inhabited the Islet au Mat, and fed on seabirds' eggs and dead turtle.

The bird evidently became extinct on Rodriguez before 1730, and lingered a little longer on the outlying islets. Only known from bones, mostly collected by the Rev. H. H. Slater, and the above description.

Habitat: Rodriguez and neighbouring islets.

There is one tibia in the Tring Museum.

The figure is coloured according to the description, while the shape of the bird is evident from its bones and relation. {6}

NECROPSAR LEGUATI FORBES.

(PLATE 2, FIG. 3.)

_Necropsar leguati_ Forbes, Bull. Liverp. Mus. I, p. 34, pl.

_Sturnidae_ I (1897-1898).

Dr. Forbes' description is as follows:--"General colour white everywhere, except on the outer webs of distal half of the primaries and secondaries and the outer webs of the newly moulted and both webs of the unmoulted rectrices, which are marked with lighter or darker ferruginous."

Dr. Forbes then gives an exhaustive description of the structure, to which I refer my readers, and the following measurements:--

Culmen 32 mm.

Wing 109 "

Tail 98 "

Tarsus 31.5 "

I should have been inclined to consider this bird an albinistic specimen of the bird described in "Relation de l'Ile Rodrigue," but for the fact that the tibia of _Necropsar roderica.n.u.s_ is 52-59 mm. in length, while this is only 46 mm. in length, while the metatarsus measures 31.5 mm. as opposed to 36-41 mm. in _N. roderica.n.u.s_. I cannot accept the theory that this is the Islet au Mat bird, and therefore different from _N. roderica.n.u.s_, as the islet is too close to Rodriguez to have had a different starling. I therefore believe this bird to have been an albinistic specimen of the Mauritius species of _Necropsar_, for there can be little doubt that it is albinistic, as the ferruginous colour is much stronger on one wing than on the other; and I conclude that the colour in the wings and tail in normal specimens was black like the Rodriguez bird, and that _N. leguati_ was a close ally of _N. roderica.n.u.s_, from which it differed princ.i.p.ally in its much smaller size.

Habitat doubtful.--The type specimen bears Lord Derby's Museum number, 1792, and a label of Verreaux giving Madagascar as the habitat, which is certainly erroneous.

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FOUDIA BRUANTE (P.L.S. MULL.)

(PLATE 2, FIG. 1.)

_Bruant de l'isle de Bourbon_ Daubenton, Pl. Enl. 321.

_Le Mordore_, Montbeillard, Hist. Nat. Ois., Quarto Edition IV., p. 366 (1778--Bourbon).

_Fringilla bruante_ P.L.S. Mull., Natursyst., Suppl. p. 164, No. 51 (1776--ex Daubenton Pl. enl).

_Emberiza fuscofulva_ Boddaert, Table Pl. Enl. p. 20 (1783--based on Pl. Enl. 321 and Montbeillard's "Mordere").

_Emberiza borbonica_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I p. 886 (1788--ex Daubenton and Montbeillard).

_Foudia bruante_ Newton, Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc. IV., pp. 543 and 548 (1889).

_Nesacanthis fusco-fulvus_ Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XIII p. 484 (1890).

We know absolutely nothing about this bird, except Daubenton's figure and the description by Montbeillard. In the plate the whole body, including the back, is uniform red, about the same red as in other species of _Foudia_, while the wings and tail are dark brown with yellowish-brown borders. In the description the body plumage is described as rufous ("mordere") and the wings, wing-coverts and tail as more or less bright rufous ("d'un mordore plus ou moins clair"). The size is said to be about that of a Bunting, but the tail shorter and the wings longer.

According to Dr. Sharpe (Cat. B. XIII, p. 484) "it has generally been considered identical with _Foudia madagascariensis_," but the latter has the back marked with longitudinal black spots, while both the figure and description of _F. bruante_ represent a uniform red upperside; moreover the locality of the latter is expressly stated, and as we know other forms of _Foudia_ from the Seych.e.l.les, Mauritius, Comoros, Aldabra and Madagascar, we have no reason to doubt the statement. We are not aware of any specimen existing of this doubtless extinct bird, though it would be worth while to search the Paris Museum for this treasure.

Habitat: Reunion or Bourbon.

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CHAUNOPROCTUS BP.

_Chaunoproctus Bonaparte_, Consp. Av. I p. 526 (1850).

The genus _Chaunoproctus_ contains only one species, which is characterized by its enormous bill, the depth of the mandible being greater than the distance between the nasal apertures. The cutting-edge of the maxilla is nearly straight, and there is no tooth in the posterior half of the maxilla. The total length is about seven to eight inches. The adult male has red in the plumage, the female is brown, above and below.