4*70 Notices respecting New Books. 



characters of the detached remains of the bird, in connexion with the 

 other sources of evidence ; a conclusion which it is freely conceded 

 had been previously arrived at by Professor Reinhardt of Copenhagen, 

 but which does not detract in the least from the merit of our author, 

 who attained the same point by a different and independent path. 



The alliance of the genus Didus with the Columbidee, through the 

 genera Treron, Verrulia and Didunculus, appears to be satisfactorily 

 made out ; the points of difference, which are candidly set forth in 

 the work before us, being few and comparatively unimportant. 



The second chapter is devoted to the Solitaire, the brevipennate 

 bird of the island Rodriguez, — the Didus solitarius of Gmelin, and 

 named by our author Pezophaps solitaria. 



Historical information respecting this bird is almost entirely con- 

 fined to the account published in 1 708 by Francis Leguat, a French 

 voyager, who furnishes many interesting particulars of its history 

 and habits, from which it appears to have been closely allied to the 

 bird of the Mauritius, though belonging to a distinct genus. The 

 Solitaire has long since disappeared ; and the only real evidences of 

 its form and structure now existing, are some bones preserved in the 

 Paris Museum, and others in the Museum at Glasgow. The former 

 consist of — 



" a femur, a tarso-metatar3al, a humerus, the medial portion of a sternum, 

 and a portion of the cranium. Unfortunately they are all incrusted uni- 

 formly over with stalagmite from T 'gth to J<yth of an inch in thickness, which 

 prevents all examination of the surface of the hones, or any minute descrip- 

 tion of their structure. They nevertheless supply us with several important 

 elements to guide us in reconstructing the skeleton of this lost bird. 



" The Glasgow series of bones are all portions of the hinder extremity, 

 and consist of three femora, a tibia, and two tarso-metatarsal bones. Their 

 appearance as well as their history, proves them to have been obtained under 

 different circumstances from those last mentioned. They still contain 

 nearly the whole of their animal matter, present a glossy surface, consider- 

 able specific gravity, and are neither changed in colour nor incrusted with 

 extraneous matter." — P. 53. 



Figures of these bones are given in the plates, and a copy of Le- 

 guat's engraving of the bird accompanies the text. 



The third chapter contains a notice of the brevipennate birds of 

 the Isle of Bourbon, which " is proved by indisputable evidence to 

 have been inhabited by two species of birds, whose inability to fly, 

 and their consequent rapid extinction, brings them into the same 

 category with the Dodo of Mauritius and the Solitaire of Rodriguez." 

 — P. 57. No less than six writers between the years 1613 and 

 1735 are quoted in support of the existence of one or both species 

 down to the latter date. No specimen or detached bones are known; 

 nor does any figure of the birds accompany the descriptions of these 

 writers. One of them, a Sieur B, in an unpublished manuscript 

 journal belonging to the Zoological Society of London, thus describes 

 the two birds : — 



" 1. Solitaires. These birds are so called because they always go alone. 

 They are the size of a large goose, and are white, with the tips of the wings 



