300 Zoological Society, 



a Horse ; they are taller than Turkeys. Their neck is straight, and 

 a little longer in proportion than a Turkey's when it lifts up its head. 

 Its eye is black and lively, and its head without comb or cop. They 

 never fly, their wings are too little to support the weight of their 

 bodies ; they serve only to beat themselves, and flutter when they 

 call one another. They will whirl about for twenty or thirty times 

 together on the same side, during the space of four or five minutes. 

 The motion of their wings makes then a noise very like that of a 

 rattle, and one may hear it two hundred paces ofl'. The bone of 

 their wing grows greater towards the extremity, and forms a little 

 round mass under the feathers, as big as a musket ball. That and 

 its beak are the chief defence of this bird. 'Tis very hard to catch 

 it in the woods, but easie in open places, because we run faster than 

 they, and sometimes we approach them without much trouble. From 

 March to September they are extremely fat, and taste admirably well, 

 especially while they are young ; some of the males weigh forty-five 

 pounds. 



" The females are wonderfully beautiful, some fair, some brown ; I 

 call them fair, because they are of the colour of fair hair. They have 

 a sort of peak, like a widow's, upon their breasts (Ze</e beaks), which 

 is of a dun colour. No one feather is straggling from the other all 

 over their bodies, they being very careful to adjust themselYes, and 

 make them all even with their beaks. The feathers on their thighs 

 are round like shells at the end, and being there very thick have an 

 agreeable effect. They have two risings on their craws, and the 

 feathers are whiter there than the rest, which livelily represents the 

 fine neck of a beautiful woman. They walk with so much stateli- 

 ness and good grace, that one cannot help admiring and loving them ; 

 by which means their fine mien often saves their lives." — Leguafs 

 Voyage to the East Indies, 1708, p. 71. 



You will perceive this bird was said to be larger and taller than a 

 Turkey. A comparison of this metatarsal bone with the metatarsal 

 bone of the Turkey I think will satisfactorily show the accuracy of 

 Leguat's description, and at the same time justify our conclusion 

 that this metatarsal bone belonged to the Solitaire of Rodriguez, to 

 which the name ofDidus solitariushsiS been applied. I trust I shall 

 be pardoned for avoiding the use of the new generic term adopted by 

 the authors of *The Dodo and its kindred,' for in a group so little 

 known, and at present so limited in species, it seems to me so much 

 to increase the trouble and difficulty of those who endeavour to study 

 such subjects, that I cannot help expressing my belief that many of 

 the new names so often introduced serve only to impede and embarrass 

 us, and I therefore regard them as much worse than useless. 



I have now remaining the bone of a bird which when alive was 

 much larger, heavier, and more powerful than the Dodo. For further 

 examples of this bird's bones, I must refer to the plates in the work 

 before alluded to, by Mr. Strickland and Dr. Melville : plate xv. fig. 2, 

 the metatarsal bone of the large species in the Andersonian Museum, 

 Glasgow ; fig. 3, a metatarsal bone in the Parisian collection. A glance 

 at these specimens will, I imagine, convince any one that this bird 



