Messrs. A. & E. Newton on the Solitaire of Rodriguez. 163 
inactive birds could not long survive. It is supposed that the case 
was the same in Rodriguez as in Mauritius; for in every country - 
newly discovered by Europeans, it has been an almost universal cus- 
tom to liberate Pigs, and there is no reason to believe that the island 
first named was an exception thereto. 
The extraordinary fidelity of Leguat’s account of the Solitaire is 
next considered. It is borne out in every point save one, perhaps, by 
a study of the remains. The rugose surface at the base of the 
maxilla, the convexity of the pelvis, the somewhat lighter weight of 
the Solitaire than of the Dodo, its capacity for running, and, above all, 
the extraordinary knob on the wing, all agree with the description he 
has given us. ‘lhe authors attempt also to account for the origin 
of this last by observing that its appearance is so exactly that of 
diseased bone, that it may have been first of all occasioned by injuries 
received by the birds in such combats with one another as Leguat 
mentions, and aggravated by the continuance of their pugnacity: 
The authors remark, also, that it is the habit of Pigeons to fight by 
buffeting with their pinions. 
The particular in which Leguat may have erred is in the assertion, 
or perhaps rather inference, as to the monogamous habits of the 
Solitaire ; and the cause of the error (if such it be) may be ascribed, 
without derogating from his truthfulness, to his anxiety to point a 
moral, which may have led him to imagine he saw what he wished 
to see. He especially mentions that one sex would not fight with the 
other, which is just what takes place among polygamous birds. The 
case of a very well-known bird (Otis tarda), about which much 
has been written, is then cited, to show that even now, after centuries 
of observation, it is doubtful whether it be monogamous or polyga- 
mons. Leguat, therefore, may easily have been mistaken in his 
opinion, even setting aside his evident leaning on the matter. The 
notion of Pezophaps having been polygamous was before entertained 
by one of the authors, and arises from a consideration of the great 
difference in the size of the two sexes, which in birds is generally 
accompanied by polygamous habits; but the question is now not 
likely to be solved. 
The amount of variability which every bone of the skeleton of this 
species presents, warrants the conclusion that as much was dis- 
played in those parts of its structure which have perished, letting 
alone Leguat’s direct evidence as to the individual difference in the 
plumage of the females. If such a process, therefore, as has been 
termed “Natural Selection,’ or ‘‘Survival of the Fittest,’ exists, 
there would have been abundant room for it to operate; and there 
having been only one species of Pezophaps might, at first sight, 
seem an argument against the belief in such a process. A little re- 
flection, however, will show that such an argument is unsound. 
Confined in a space so restricted as one small island, every indivi- 
dual of the species must have been subject to conditions essentially 
identical in all cases. Whatever power such a process might possess, 
there would be neither occasion nor opportunity for its operation, so 
long as no change took place in the physical character of the island. 
Ps 
