296 REPORT ON ZOOLOGY, MDCCCXLIV. 



Hitchcock, who is generally gifted with a rather lively imagination, sup- 

 poses that the nest also of the Diuoruis has already been found, and that it 

 must still be living upon the coast of New Holland. (Ann. of Nat. Hist. 

 xiv, p. 310.) In support of his assertion he has recourse to the accounts 

 of Cook and Flinders ; the first of whom had met, upon the Lizard Islands, 

 by the north-east coast of New Holland, a nest upon the ground, that mea- 

 sured 26 feet in circumference, and 2' 8" iii height. Flinders met with two 

 similar nests in King George's Bay, upon the south coast of New Holland. 

 Now Hitchcock presumes that such nests from their very size could belon- 

 to no other Bird than the Dinoruis, which must accordingly be still found 

 living in the above-named spots ; only our author surely errs in both cases, 

 since we know that such and far larger nests are built up by Megapoclius. 

 (Vid meineu Jahresbericht, 1842, S. 85.) 



In the 'Ann. of Nat. Hist/ xiv, p. 324, is a small essay by 

 Strickland, treating concerning the evidence of Struthioid 

 Birds, different from the Dodo, that formerly existed upon 

 the island of Mauritius. 



Leguat, who from 1G91 1093 dwelt upon the island Rodriguez, near the 

 Mauritius (Isle de France), gives the description of a Bird, wliich he calls Le 

 Solitaire, and bases it upon Gmelin's Didus solitarius. According to Leguat's 

 description and figure the Solitaire is distinguished from the Dido in the fol- 

 lowing points : 1st, the bill resembles that of a Turkey, but is much more 

 curved; 2d, the tail is almost wanting ; 3d, the Solitaire is higher-limbed than 

 the Turkey ; 4th, the neck is longer than in the latter, and carried straight out; 

 5th, the wings, although unfit for flying, appear to have been more developed 

 than in the Dido ; 6th, the female had a kind of baud upon the upper part 

 of the bill. This large Bird from Rodriguez has since then not been seen, 

 so that it has become extinct. 



There are yet further accounts extant which render it probable that, upon 

 the Island of Bourbon, birds of a similar character to the above formerly 

 lived. In the h'brary of the Zoological Society a manuscript was found, sent 

 by Telfair from Mauritius, and entitled ' Journal et Relation des Voyages 

 faits par le Sr. D. B. aux iles Dauphme ou Madagascar et de Bourbon ou 

 Mascareue,' 1669. The author therein speaks of the laud-birds upon the 

 Isle of Bourbon, the following words being worthy of remark. " Solitaires : 

 ces oiseaux sout uommes aiusi, parce qu'ils soiit toujours seuls. Us sout "ros 

 comme une grosse Oye et ont le plumage blauc, noir a 1'extremite des ailes ct 

 de la queue. A la queue il y a des plumes approchantes de celles d'Autruche, 

 ils out le col long, et le bee fait comme celui des becasses, mais plus gros, 

 les jarnbes et picds comme poulets d'Inde. Get oiscau sc pretend a la 

 course, ne volant que bien peu. Oimtux ileus, gros comme les Solitaires, 



