162 Prof. Schlegel on some Extinct Gigantic Birds 



And this judgment will, we hope, be adopted by every one of 

 us. In this httle work, according to Leguat*, the Geans are 

 named among the birds of Bourbon ; and we read further of 

 them, " Les Geans sont de grands Oiseaux montez sur des 

 echasses, qui frequentent les Rivieres & les Lacs, & dont la chair 

 est a-peu pres du gout de celle du Butor." That by these 

 Geans the Solitaires of Bourbon cannot be meant, appears by 

 their manner of living, and by the taste of their flesh. To 

 determine them more precisely is not very possible, on account 

 of the incompleteness of Du Quesne's account ; but this still 

 shows that there lived in Bourbon a gigantic marsh-bird, which, 

 like the Dodo, has long ago vanished, and which probably was 

 of the same species as the Geant of Leguat, or related to it, 

 since it lived by rivers and lakes ; and these, with marshes, 

 form the abode of Waterhens. 



More uncertain it is whether the birds which were found in 

 these islands by several old travellers, and by them spoken of 

 under the names of Flamingo or Passe Flamingo, I'cally were 

 Flamingos, or whether under these names were comprehended 

 the gigantic birds of Leguat, or of Du Quesne and Leguat. 

 Herbert t, for instance, enumerates among the birds of 

 Mauritius the " passe Flamingos;" and in Harry's manuscript 

 journal above mentioned occurs the name '^ pasca fflemingos." 

 Dellont says that in Bourbon one could catch the birds with the 

 hand, or kill them with sticks, adding, " The only ones for 

 which a gun is wanted were called Flamends — Flemings. 

 They are as big as a young Turkey, having legs and 

 necks four or five feet in length ; the difficulty there is in catch- 

 ino- them makes them more scarce than the rest." Beyer Cor- 

 neliszoonS also speaks of i^/«mencos in Mauritius. It is pro- 



* Ibid. i. pp. 55, 56. In the English translation of this work (Lon- 

 don, 1708), which is otherwise very accurate, and in which the original 

 plates are copied with perfect exactness, the word Gemit (at page 41) 

 is translated by Peacock, but later (p. 171) by Gimit. 



t Kelation du Voyage, &c., French translation. Paris, 1663, 4to, 

 p. 544. 



X Naauwkeurig verhaal van een Reyse door Indien, &c. (Dutch 

 translation.) Utrecht, Eibbius, 4to, 1687, p. 9. 



§ Journal, p. 80. 



