238 BIRD LIFE 



this object in view, doubled the bird's fists. ' On the 

 wings,' wrote Leguat, whom nobody until lately be- 

 lieved, ' were knobs of bone as big as a musket-balL' 

 Of late years many bones of the Solitaire have been 

 discovered in caves and elsewhere, and have fully 

 confirmed the story. ' The numbers of the bones that 

 had been broken and crushed in life contained in the 

 collections brought to the country is/ writes Professor 

 Newton, whose brother, Sir Edward, was one of the 

 most successful collectors, 'considerable, showing the 

 effects of the cestus-]ike armature of the wing.' 



As Leguat's story has proved true in one improbable 

 particular, we may accept another tale he tells of this 

 strange bird. ' We have often/ he says in his narrative, 

 ' remarked that some days after the young one leaves 

 the nest a company of thirty or forty brings another 

 young one to it; and the new-fledged bird with its 

 father and mother joining with the band march to 

 some by -place. We frequently followed them, and 

 found that afterwards the old ones went each their 

 own way, alone or in couples, and left the two young 

 ones together, which we called a marriage.' The 

 French have a precedent for their weddings by family 

 arrangement 



Birds can only too easily disappear either locally or 

 entirely. But for the timely change of habits described 

 above, the 'Dodlet' would probably before now have 

 joined its distinguished cousin in the Valhalla of 

 extinct birds. 



One of the effects of the great hurricane of September 



