(PLATE 9.)
"_Perroquets un peu plus gros que pigeons, ayant le plumage de couleur
de petit gris, un chaperon noir sur la teste, le becq fort gros, &
couleur de feu_" Le Sieur D.B, (Dubois), Voyages aux Iles Dauphine ou
Madagascar, et Bourbon ou Mascarenne. p. 172 (1674--"Bourbon ou
Mascarenne").
_Psittacus Mascarinus_ Brisson, Orn. IV., p. 315 (1760); Hahn, Orn.
Atlas, Papageien p. 54, pl. 39 (1835).
_Psittacus mascarin._ Linnaeus, Mantissa Plantarum, regni animalis
appendix p. 524 (1771--"Habitat in Mascarina." Ex Brisson).
_Perroquet Mascarin_ Levaillant, Perroquets II, p. 171, pl. 189
(1805--"Madagascar," errore).
_Mascarinus madagascariensis_ Lesson, Traité d'Orn, p. 189
(1831--"Madagascar," ex Levaillant).
_Coracopsis mascarina_ Wagler, Mon. Psittac. p. 679 (1832); Pelzeln,
Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien 1863, p. 934.
_Mascarinus obscurus_ (non _Psittacus obscurus_ L.) Bonaparte, Rev. &
Mag. de Zool. 1854 p. 154 (Linnaeus, _Psittacus obscurus_--Syst. Nat.
Ed. X, p. 97, 1758, ex Hasselquist M.S.--though identified by himself
with the Mascarine Parrot in 1766--Syst. Nat. Ed. XII, I, p.
140--cannot be the same as _P. mascarinus_; the description disagrees
entirely, and the bird was described from a specimen probably seen
alive by Hasselquist, with uncertain locality. What Linnaeus' _P.
obscurus_ was, is difficult to say; if it was not for the long tail,
one might consider it a variety of the Grey Parrot).
_Psittacus madagascarensis_ Finsch, Papageien II pp. 306, 955
(1868--Finsch was not acquainted with the history of this Parrot, as he
still considered Madagascar to be its home, and wondered why it had not
been found there by recent collectors).
_Psittacus madagascariensis_ Pelzeln, Ibis 1873, p. 32.
_Mascarinus duboisi_ W. A. Forbes, Ibis 1879, pp. 304, 305 (figures),
306; Milne-Edwards & Oustalet, Centenaire Mus. d'Hist. Nat. pp.
191-205, pl. I (1893--excellent lengthy account).
_Mascarinus mascarinus_ Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XX, p. 421
(1891--Réunion).
It has been mentioned above that "Le Sieur D.B." (Dubois) described this
Parrot clearly in 1674, and that it lived on Réunion, and not on
Madagascar. Linnaeus in 1771 (see above) was the first to bestow a
scientific name on it, though Brisson had already again described it in
1760. Linnaeus' diagnosis is, as usual, rather poor, and not quite
correct[1], but his reference to Brisson leaves no doubt as to what he
meant.
This parrot is one of the rarest of extinct birds, only two stuffed
specimens being known. One normally coloured specimen is preserved in the
Museum of Natural History in Paris, and it is evidently this which has been
figured by Daubenton and Levaillant, and in the "Centenaire du Muséum
d'Historie Naturelle." From the latter plate my figure has been taken.
The example in Vienna is unfortunately semi-albinistic, there being some
white feathers on the back, wings and tail. Another normal individual,
however, lived formerly in the Menagerie of the King of Bavaria, where it
was depicted by Hahn in 1835. Unfortunately this specimen has not been
preserved.
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