67
PALAEORNIS EQUES(BODD).
- Psittaca borbonica torquata Briss., Orn. IV p. 328, pl. XXVII f. 1 (1760). (Bourbon.)
- Psittacus alexandri var. γ Linnaeus, S.N. p. 142 (1766).
- Perruche à collier de l'Isle de Bourbon Daubenton, Pl. enl. 215.
- Perruche à 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 asserted 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 Abbé Dubois describes this bird as follows: "Green Parrots as large as pigeons having a black collar."
Now the species of Palaeornis from Rodriguez, the Seychelles, 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 Réunion, but now extinct. No specimens known.
