Extinct Birds Part 39

ALECTROENAS NITIDISSIMA (SCOP.)

(PLATE 22.)

_Pigeon hollandais_ Sonnerat, Voy. Ind. Orient. II, p. 175, pl. 101 (1782).

_Hackled Pigeon_ Latham, Syn. B. II, 2, p. 641, No. 36 (1783).

_Columba nitidissima_ Scopoli, Del. Flor. and Faun. Insubr. II, p. 93, No. 89 (1786) (ex Sonnerat).

_Columba franciae_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 2, p. 779, No. 51 (1788). (ex Sonnerat).

_Columba botanica_ Bonnaterre, Enc. Meth. I, p. 233 (1790).

_Ramier perisse_ Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. VI, p. 74, pl. 267 (1808).

_Columba jubata_ Wagler, Syst. Av., _Columba_, sp. 22 (1827).

_Alectroenas nitidissima_ G. R. Gray, List Gen. B., p. 58 (1840).

_Alectroenas franciae_ Reichenbach, Syn. Av., _Columbariae_, p. 2, f.

1302 (1847).

_Columbigallus franciae_ Des Murs, Encycl. d'Hist. Nat., Ois. VI., p.

31, (1854?).

_Ptilopus nitidissimus_ Schlegel and Pollen, Rech. Faun. Madag., p. 159 (1868).

_Alectroenas nitidissimus_ G. R. Gray, Hand-list II, p. 228, No. 9164 (1870).

_Alectoroenas nitidissimus_ A. Newton, P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 2-4.

Sonnerat's original description, translated into English, is as follows: "It is much larger than the European Woodpigeon; the feathers of the head, neck and breast are long, narrow, and end in a point. These feathers are rather curiously constructed, they have the polish, brilliancy, and feel of a cartilaginous blade. I could not, with the aid of a lens, distinguish whether these blades were formed by the conglomeration of the barbules, but we may take it for granted that they are const.i.tuted in a like manner to the wing appendages of the Bohemian Waxwing and the cartilaginous blades of Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl. The eye is surrounded by naked skin of a deep red; the back, the wings and the belly are of a dark blue; the rump and tail are of a very bright carmine red; the beak and iris are of the same colour, and the feet are black."

Undoubtedly quite extinct. Only three specimens are known of this bird: one in Edinburgh, one in Paris, and one in Mauritius. Some bones were collected by the Rev. H. H. Slater.

Habitat: Mauritius. {164}

ALECTROENAS(?) RODERICANA (MILNE-EDWARDS).

_Columba rodericana_ Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sc. Nat. (5) XIX art. 3, p.

16, pl. 12, ff. 1, 1a, 1b, 1c (1874).

The original description of the sternum is as follows:--"It belongs to a species small in size, barely as large as _T. tympanistria_, but evidently much better built for flight. In fact the most striking characters of this sternum are the large size of the bouclier, the large size of the lateral notches, and the shape of the keel, whose anterior angle is not much produced in front. The coracoidal grooves are large and only slightly oblique. The lateral branches detach themselves from the bone in front of the costal facets--they are very widely spread, and stretch more directly outwards than in the remainder of the species of the family. The lower lateral branches are equally divergent, and the median blade of the posterior edge is remarkable from its enlargement. The keel is moderately prominent, its anterior angle is much rounded, and does not reach the level of the episternal apophysis, as is the case, as a rule, in the pigeons. All these peculiarities, to which must be added the general flattening of the bone which is hardly at all sloped like a roof, separate the pigeon of Rodriguez very widely, not only from _Erythroena_ and _Turtur_, but also from _Vinago_. In its shape in general, by the little p.r.o.nounced keel and the direction of the latter, this sternum presents certain a.n.a.logies to the essentially arboreal species such as those of the genus _Carpophaga_, but they all differ in having the s.p.a.ce for the costal facets on the sides of the sternum much more extended, the superior lateral branches larger, and the latter arising further back, so that the lateral notches are smaller.

Up to the present I do not know any genus of the family of _Columbidae_ in which the sternum can at all be likened to that found recently in Rodriguez, and therefore in all probability this fossil remainder is of yet another vanished species, which I propose to call _Columba rodericana_."

(Translated.)

It is probable that Milne-Edwards's _C. rodericana_ belonged to the genus _Alectroenas_, and was the representative on Rodriguez of the _Alectroenas nitidissima_ of Mauritius. 1 humerus in the Tring Museum.

Habitat: Rodriguez.

{165}

NESOENAS SALVAD.

Soles normal, not very broad, only the hind toe with the skin prominently expanded on the sides. First primary about equal to the sixth. Tail entirely rufous, composed of twelve feathers.

NESOENAS MAYERI (PREVOST).

(PLATE 3, FIG. 3.)

_Columba mayeri_ Prevost & Knip, Pigeons II, pl. 60 (1843).

_Columba meyeri_ Schlegel & Pollen, Rech. Faun. Mad. p. 111, pl. 36 (1868).

_Peristera meyeri_ G. R. Gray, Gen. B. III App. p. 24 (1849).

_Carpophaga meyeri_ G. R. Gray, fide Bp. Consp. Av. II p. 45 (1854).

_Trocaza meyeri_ Bonaparte, Consp. Av. II p. 45 (1854).

_Trocaza meijeri_ Pollen, N.T.D. I p. 318 (1863).

_Nesoenas mayeri_ Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vol. XXI p. 327 (1893).

The following is the description by Salvadori in the "Catalogue of Birds":--"Head, neck and underparts pale pink, fading into whitish towards the forehead, cheeks and upper throat, and pa.s.sing into rather darker pink on the mantle; remainder of the upper back and the entire wings brown, with a slight shade of olive and rufous; lower back and rump greyish, the latter mottled with chestnut; upper tail coverts and tail cinnamon, the outer tail feathers fading into buff on the outer webs and towards the tips; undertail-coverts pink, like the mantle; undersurface of the wings ashy brown, slightly pale on the axillaries, and under wing-coverts iris yellow; bill yellow, shaded with red towards the base; legs red (fide Sh.e.l.ley).

Total length about 15.5 inches, wing 8.5, tail 6.5, bill 0.86, tarsus 1.3."

In the live bird the pink soon fades away almost entirely, and the olive shade on the wings is strongly developed.

This bird was not found by the Rev. H. H. Slater, during his visit to Mauritius. As observed by Mons. Paul Carie (Ornis XII, p. 127), the idea that it is extinct is, however, incorrect, as it can still easily be procured, though it is rare. M. Georges Antelme, of Mauritius, possesses the eggs of this pigeon. That it still exists is also evident from two specimens which were sent to the Zoological Gardens, London, last year, and are still living there.

Habitat: Mauritius. {166}

NESOENAS DUBOISI SP. NOV.

_Pigeons sauvages d'un rouge roussastre_ Le Sieur D.B., Voyages aux Iles Dauphine ou Madagascar, etc., p. 171 (1674--Bourbon).

Talking of Wild Pigeons, "Le Sieur D.B." tells us that there were on the island of Bourbon "others of a russet red colour, a little larger than European pigeons, with the beak larger, red at base near the head, the eyes surrounded by a fiery colour, as in the pheasants. At a certain season they are so fat 'qu'on ne leur voit point de croupion;' they taste very good."

This pa.s.sage cannot be meant for a turtle-dove, but the description of the bill and surrounding of the eyes shows that it refers to a form allied to _Nesoenas mayeri_. The latter, however, is not entirely russet red, but the head, neck, underside and back are creamy white, washed with a greyish-rose colour. Therefore the bird mentioned by Le Sieur D.B. was evidently a representative of N. _mayeri_ or Bourbon. I name it in memory of Monsieur Dubois, who was the author of the Voyages of the "Sieur D.B."