Extinct birds : $b An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical timesRothschild, Lionel Walter Rothschild, Baron
Science
Extinct birds : $b An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times
Rothschild, Lionel Walter Rothschild, Baron
Birds; Extinct birds
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 rodericanus_ 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. rodericanus_. I cannot accept the theory that this is the
Islet au Mât bird, and therefore different from _N. rodericanus_, 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. rodericanus_, from which it differed principally 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.
{7}
FOUDIA BRUANTE (P.L.S. MÜLL.)
(PLATE 2, FIG. 1.)
_Bruant de l'isle de Bourbon_ Daubenton, Pl. Enl. 321.
_Le Mordoré_, Montbeillard, Hist. Nat. Ois., Quarto Edition IV., p. 366
(1778--Bourbon).
_Fringilla bruante_ P.L.S. Müll., 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 "Morderé").
_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 ("morderé") and the
wings, wing-coverts and tail as more or less bright rufous ("d'un mordoré
plus ou moins clair"). The size is said to be about that of a Bunting, but
the tail shorter and the wings longer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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