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The Reunion Starling

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The Reunion Starling THE REUNION STARLING (Fregilupus varius Bodd.) BY GRAHAM RENSHAW, M.D., F.R.S.E. "These birds (passenger pigeons) seem now to have joined the extinct Reunion."-GENa l e d e starlingH e th f so E STEATTON POB.TEB, Homing with the Birds. " The transporting of the Fregilupus to England caused me no little anxiety, seein infinitels g thawa t i t y more valuable tha Greana t Aukd ,an I was glad when I handed it into Dr Gunther's custody, as I had not quitted my hold of the case for some days and nights,"-DR BOWDLEK SHAKPB, History Naturalthe of History Collections Britishthe of Museum. IT is a commonplace of natural history that island species are frequently uniqu ofteo to for n eni d mtenan becomo dt e extinct. Thu tricolouree sth d pigeon hollandais crestee th , d blue parrot and the flame-feathered- aphanapteryx were all remarkable birds, occurred only in the Mascarene Islands havd l vanishean eal d earthe fro face th mf th eo . Ther alss oewa islane founth f Reunion do di ncurioua s starling, which, from its elongated beak and crested head, was at first supposed to be a species of hoopoe, and was even figured as the " Black and White Hoopoe" in Buffon's Natural History-this being doubly inaccurate, sinces a , pointed out by M. Levaillant, this brown and white bird had not an atom of black in its entire plumage. The " hoopoe " fairly swarmed, even seashoree dowth o nt , while inlant di frequente marshee th d grean si t flocks, feeding greediln yo the berries of the coffee-tree and on those of the pseudo- buxus. It became very fat in June and July, and may itself have been used for food, for it had none of the usual starling alertness, bein stupio gs d tha t couli t d easil knockee yb d down wit hstick a abundancs It . e procure populaa t i r dfo r name, the bird being styled the " martin," a term also 80 1 8 EMPIRE FAUNE TH TH F AO E applied to the mynahs which, having been introduced from India multiplied ha , d exceedingl islande th n yo . The extinction of the Reunion starling is an ornithological mystery. Like the ill-fated Labrador duck, it seemed to have no particular enemies; its environment must have been eminently suitable for it, or it could not have swarmed t i did s ,a e advantagwhilth o et f numbereo t addei s da voracious appetite, backe specialisea y db d bea larged kan , powerful feet armed with capable clawsthus i t sI probabl. e that some outside influence cause s exterminationdit ; per- haps the introduced mynahs competed too successfully for nesting sites, or the sticks of the Creoles became too busy. B onle w t mayi thi yno s a survivest i , e cabinetth n si f so a few-a very few-museums; its nestlings and eggs are unknown. Levaillant'n I (1800y sda ) collector littld sha e difficultn yi obtaining specimens. Levaillant states that he himself had seen seven in skin, besides one in his own cabinet. Yet when Jules Verreaux, the celebrated taxidermist, visited Reunion thirtiee inth bire becomd sth dha raro es e that Verreaux supposed that the last of them fell to his own gun, and the skeleton whic presentee h Professoo dt r Newton lon- gre maine e onldth y exampl Englandn ei . Somewhere about this tim . LegraseM residena , Reuniof o enthusitn a d nan - astic ornithologist s locaspitn hi i , f le o knowledg - re d ean peated excursions after birds, note scarceld d ha tha e h ty seen ten of the once swarming " hoopoes " in all his wander- ings. The bird had, at any rate, been completely extermin- ated, not only throughout the coast regions, but even in the adjacent mountains thoug thoughd s ,an wa t hi t tha might ti t survive in the forests near Saint Joseph, it was so nearly finished that the local museum could not boast of a single specimen 1834n I . , however exampln a , presentes ewa o dt the Port Louis collection by a member of the Mauritius Natural History Society, whil 183n ei . Sauzie 5M r brought four living birds to Dr Desjardins. The fact that it was possibl t thiea obtaio st lat y mano nes da y live specimens together suggests tha foue th t r birds were fledglingl al d san taken from the same nest, that the dying species still 82 PRESERVATIOE SOCIETTH R YFO F NO struggle breedo dt tha d normae an ,tth l clutc eggf a ho t sa sitting was four or five. In the sunset of their race these captives still maintained family traditions r thee fo ,at y readily anything thaoffereds wa t ; perhaps they were less stupid than the average, for two of them managed to escape. It may have been one of these fugitives that was shot by M. Autar d exhibitean d a meetin e Mauritiut a dth f o g s Natural History SocietJanuarh 5t n yo y 1837-the lasf o t its race. vien I thif wo s obituar pleasans i t yi recoro t t d thar ou t own Natural History Museum at South Kensington possesses a good example of the Reunion starling. This individual was received Comtfrod r Nivool m M e e ed 183n th y i y 3b Riocour, who had a very famous and choice collection of birds at his chateau at Vitry. On his'death the specimens passed into the museum of the second Comte, who kept his birds in a large room, protected from the dust by glass cases frod lighe an mgreeth y b t n blinds thire Th d. Comte sold the lot to that sound naturalist, the late Adolphe Boucard, who offered them to the British Museum. One hundred and forty-eight specimens, including the starling, were purchased by the trustees, and some of us well remember this historic individual r lon fo ornamenn ,g a bire th d f o gallert s it n yi own glass-fronte transferrew d no e stud casd th an eyo t d collection. Thank care th e o successivslavishet y b t i n do e owners, the bird seems likely to add at least a century ninete th o yt year post-mortemf so life whicalreads ha t hi y achieved. The museum of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris has had several Reunion starlings. Two of these were not mere skins t actuabu , l birds preserve spiritn di werd an ,e partially . Milne-EdwarddissecteMM y b d d Oustalet- an in s o wh , vestigated the digestive tract and portion of the respiratory organs stuffeo Tw .d individual stile ar sl displayee th n di main bird gallery, with a number of mynahs and grackles : one is fully adult, and is probably the " beautiful new speci- carefullmeo s n" y measure Hartlaur D y db b many years ago, while the other is sub-adult and may be one of the two cited by Levaillant as preserved in " Notre Museum de Paris." 3 8 EMPIRE FAUNE TH TH F AEO The younger bird is not quite perfect, a portion of the crest being missing. kindnese Milne-Edward. th y MM B f so Oustaled san e th t write s enablewa r o photograpdt h both individualse Th . adult birs beedha n carefully mounted beard an , sa well - developed crest of white-shafted feathers ; the general body colour is ashy brown, the wings and tail being blackish flanke browth d s nan isabelline beae brighTh s ki . t orange- legse yellowth , d clawfeed an , an t s citron-yellow e lasth , t being strongly curved youngee Th . r specimen, lik l subeal - adult individualsknowns i s a mors r ha , fa e s browa , d nan less grey in its plumage than obtains in mature birds. The eye in this species was said to be brownish blue, and it is quite likely that such was the case, as similar tints occur to-dae younth f othen yi go re starlings th e irif o th s d an , Re-union bird may have been described from an immature specimen. The tongue was frayed towards the tip into brush-like filaments suitable for taking honey and small forkes insectswa dd beforan , behindd late an eTh Pro. - fessor Louis Brasil demonstrate da sexua l dimorphismn i this species e malebeake th th ,f so s beinge th large d an r crest on the head more developed than in the females. This character is well shown in the four examples which Dr Chaulmet presented about 1832 to the Troyes Museum. The curtain has long rung down upon the Reunion starling, yet by a happy chance it was momentarily lifted in 1844, though the species was already in its grave. In that year Professor Savi f Pisao , , received fro ma Corsica n priest named Lombardi several preserved specimens and with great generosity presented nin f theseo e priceless treasures to various Italian and other museums, retaining only one for Pisa. The full census is : Paris, 4 (2 mounted, 2 in spirit); Troyes ; London4 , ; Cambridge1 , (skeleton)1 , ; Caen ; 1 Florence, ; Turin1 , ; Pisa1 , ; Leyden1 , ; 1 , Stockholm, 1; Belgium, 1; Lusanne, 1 ; Geneva, 1; Livourne, 1; Port Louis, 2. The writer is indebted to Professor Menegaux for permission to reproduce, from The Revue Frangaise d'Ornithologie, the fine plate of the specimen at Caen accompanying this article.
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