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. The 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- 

 mous. 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. 



11* 



