BIRDS AND RHYTINA. 167 



island in 1691, and who has left us not only a good 

 account of its habits, but likewise an excellent portrait. 

 When the solitaire became extinct is uncertain, but there 

 is some evidence that it may have lingered on in the more 

 remote parts of the island down to the year 1761. These 

 birds were flightless, and the males much larger than the 

 females, their rudimentary wing having a peculiar horny 

 ball-like excrescence. Up to the year 1864 our museums 

 possessed only a few bones of these strange birds, obtained 

 from caverns in Rodriguez ; but during the transit of 

 Venus expedition a large number of remains were obtained, 

 from which several more or less nearly perfect skeletons 

 were set up. 



Mauritius and Eodriguez also possessed another large 

 flightless bird, known as the Aphanapteryx, and belonging 

 to the rail family. By the fortunate discovery of an old 

 painting, we learn that this bird had a long recurved bill 

 and a brownish-red plumage. It was living in 1615, but 

 seems to have disappeared by Leguat's time. 



Another extinct Mauritian bird was the geant (Leguatia), 

 which was a kind of coot, described by Leguat in 1695 as 

 being equal in size to a goose. When it died out is 

 unknown. A remarkable crested parrot (Lophopsittacus) 

 the sole representative of its genus also existed in 

 Mauritius in 1601, which has long since disappeared. 



Our next instance of extermination relates to a very 

 different kind of creature, viz., the great northern sea-cow 

 (Rhytina), a near ally of the existing dugongs and manatis 

 of the warmer seas. The rhytina, which was far larger 

 than its living cousins, attaining a length of from twenty- 

 four to thirty feet, was discovered by the ill-fated navi- 

 gator Behring, on the island which bears his name, in the 

 year 1741 ; and had it not been that he was accompanied 

 by an excellent naturalist (Steller), it is quite probable 

 that the creature might have perished without our ever 

 having even heard of its existence. This sea-cow was con- 

 fined to Behring and Copper Islands at the date of its 

 discovery, where it existed in large numbers ; but there is 

 little doubt that it must formerly have had a much wider 

 range, and that it was even then a waning race. Although 



