. The Ibis . slesSanguinaires in January. 1G3. ^Iergus albellus L. Smew. One female shot on Lake Biguglia was brought in theflesh to Jesse. [To be continued.] III.—On the Birds of Captain R. Meinertzhagen, Royal Fusiliers, ,* (Text-figure 1.) During a twelve months^ stay in IMauritius I had oppor-tunities of visiting all parts of the island and of examiningthe bird-life. This is of great interest, containing as itdoes the remnants of a peculiar insular fauna, pelagicwanderers from the South Seas, migrants from the snowsof Arctic Europe, and numerous species introduced fromE
. The Ibis . slesSanguinaires in January. 1G3. ^Iergus albellus L. Smew. One female shot on Lake Biguglia was brought in theflesh to Jesse. [To be continued.] III.—On the Birds of Captain R. Meinertzhagen, Royal Fusiliers, ,* (Text-figure 1.) During a twelve months^ stay in IMauritius I had oppor-tunities of visiting all parts of the island and of examiningthe bird-life. This is of great interest, containing as itdoes the remnants of a peculiar insular fauna, pelagicwanderers from the South Seas, migrants from the snowsof Arctic Europe, and numerous species introduced fromEurope, Asia, and Africa. Nearly all the indigenous birds are now confined to forestand undeveloped land. None of these fast vanishing specieshave adapted themselves to sugar-cane fields or human * This paper does not include those birds tbat became extinct morethan a hundred years ago. the Birds of Mauritius. ■83 Text-fig:. 1. MAURITIUS Scale of StMUxut yJSiea ^ ? » ? J RefcTcncc ■6, ^Oujutjrra QtLoxn,. Sketch-map of Mauritius. Q 2 84 Captain R. Meinertzliagen on habitations, whilst nearly all the introduced species haveshunned the forests and wilder parts of the island. It is a peculiar fact that all the proved native birds ofMauritius should be so confiding. Without one singleexception they are ludicrously tame. Also nearly all of themhave a sad plaintive note, and even their alarm-note ismore a cry for mercy than a scream o£ terror. The song ofthe Merle or Coq de Bois, or the mournful cooings of thePigeon des Marres, all express sadness, and heard in thedense forests of Mount Cocotte or in the Black Bivergorges, they make one curse the civilization that hasbrought such birds to the verge of extinction. Although human agency is responsible for the extirpa-tion of most of the Mauritian species, it cannot be held tobe directly so. The Iavages of pig, monkey, and mongoosemust bear the full blame of such thorough and wholesaledestruction. For centuries the Mauritian birds
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1859
