Extinct Birds Part 21

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 Seych.e.l.les, especially Mahe, 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: Seych.e.l.les 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 a collier de l'Isle de Bourbon_ Daubenton, Pl. enl. 215.

_Perruche a 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 a.s.serted 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 Abbe Dubois describes this bird as follows: "Green Parrots as large as pigeons having a black collar."

Now the species of _Palaeornis_ from Rodriguez, the Seych.e.l.les, 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 Reunion, but now extinct. No specimens known. {68}

PALAEORNIS ECHO NEWTON.

_Palaeornis echo_ Newton, Ibis 1876, p. 284.

_Palaeornis eques_ Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XX, p. 442 (1891).

Description of Male: Green, the occiput tinged with bluish; a narrow black stripe from the nostrils to the eyes; broad black mandibular stripes pa.s.sing down and across the sides of the neck where they meet a pink collar, which is interrupted on the hind neck; under wing-coverts yellowish green; central tail feathers scarcely tinged with bluish; tail below dark yellowish grey; upper mandible red, under mandible almost black with only a brownish tinge in places. Iris yellow. Naked skin round eyes orange. Wing 7.5 inches, tail 8.75 inches, bill 9 inches. The female differs by the absence of the collar, no bluish tint on occiput, and the bill entirely blackish.

It differs from _P. torquatus_ in the incomplete collar, darker green colour and broader tail feathers. This bird is still found in the interior of the island, but is rare and apparently on the verge of extinction.

Habitat: Mauritius.

Three specimens at Tring, four in the British Museum.

{69}

CYANORHAMPHUS ZEALANDICUS (LATHAM.)

_Red Rumped Parrakeet_ Latham, Syn. I, p. 249, No. 50 (1781).

_Psittacus novae seelandiae_ Gmelin (nec. Sparrm.), S.N. I, p. 328, No.

83 (1788).

_Psittacus zealandicus_ Latham, Ind. Orn. I, p. 102, No. 58 (1790).

_Psittacus novae-zealandiae_ Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 44, var. 1 (1820).

_Psittacus erythronotus_ Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 45, No. 67 (1820).

_Psittacus pacificus_ var. No. 3, Vieillot, Enc. Meth., p. 1387 (1823).

_Platycercus pacificus_, part. Vigors, Zool. Journ. I, p. 529 (1825).

_Platycercus erythronotus_ Stephens, Gen. Zool. XIV., p. 129, No. 9 (1826).

_Conurus phaeton_ Des Murs, Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 449.

_Platycercus phaeton_ Des Murs, Icon. Orn. pl. 16 (1845).

_Cyanorhamphus pacificus_ Bonaparte, Rev. et. Mag. 1854, p. 153, No.

184.

_Cyanorhamphus erythronotus_ Gray, Hand-list II, p. 140, No. 8029 (1870).

_Cyanorhamphus forsteri_ Finsch, Papag. II, p. 270 (1868).

This bird has received a variety of names owing to the adult bird being very different to the younger and quite young birds. _Adult_, forehead black; stripe from lores pa.s.sing through eye almost to hind-neck scarlet; rump scarlet; back and breast dull green; cheeks, head, neck, belly, under-tail coverts and wing coverts, bright green. Flight-feathers blue on outer, brown on inner, webs; bend of wing blue; tail feathers blue, edged with green.

_Young_ differs in having a dull bluish-black forehead, brownish head, back mixed brown and green, rump and eye stripe chestnut red, and the underside greyish green.

This species was confined to the Society Islands, where it was obtained during Cook's Voyage by Ellis and by Forster, and lastly by Lieutenant de Marolles in 1844. We only know for certain at the present day of the existence of two specimens, one in the British Museum, ex Ma.s.sena collection, whose origin is doubtful, and one in Paris, collected by Lieutenant de Marolles. What became of the other two specimens of the latter's collecting, and of Forster's and Ellis' specimens, I cannot say.

Habitat: Society Islands.