412 The Plover-like Birds 



Castle," which shows that he was in Mauritius in 1681 and saw "Dodos, whose 

 flesh is very hard." In 1693, a little less than a century after its discovery, the 

 bird seems to have become extinct, for Leguat, the careful describcr of the Soli- 

 taire, makes no mention of the Dodo. Shortly after the Dodo became extinct 

 the Dutch, who had so far been the occupants of Mauritius, left the island, and in 

 1715 the French took possession only to give place to the English in 1810, one 

 result of these various changes being that all knowledge of the quaint and curious 

 bird was so utterly lost as not even to live in tradition, while the few specimens 

 preserved in museums were so little known that some naturalists became skep- 

 tical as to the previous existence of such a bird as the Dodo. But these doubts 

 were set at rest when, in 1866, Mr. George Clark of Mauritius succeeded in ob- 

 taining a considerable series of bones from the bottom of a small marsh, known 

 as the Mare aux Songes, lying about a quarter of a mile from the sea. At the 

 beginning of the last century this marsh, as well as the land immediately about it, 

 was still covered with large trees whose fruits had doubtless formerly served the 

 Dodo for food, and in this spot the bird seemed to have lived and died in peace, 

 and curiously enough this is the only place in Mauritius where its bones have 

 been brought to light. Of specimens other than the bones there are only a few 

 fragments, a head and foot in the Ashmolean collection at Oxford, a foot in the 

 British Museum, and a head in the Museum at Copenhagen are all that remain. 



The Solitaire, while presenting a general likeness to the Dodo, was somewhat 

 more lightly built, and had decidedly longer legs and neck and a smaller beak. 

 For a knowledge of the external appearance and habits of the Solitaire we are 

 entirely dependent on the account of Francois Leguat, who in 1691 founded a 

 colony at Rodriguez. His account in part is as follows : "Of all the birds on this 

 island the most remarkable is that that goes by the name of the Solitaire, because 

 it is very seldom seen in Company, tho' there are abundance of them. The 

 feathers of the Males are of a brown gray Colour; the Feet and B^ak are like a 

 Turkey's, but a little more crooked. They have scarce any Tail, but their hind 

 part covered with Feathers is roundish, like the Crupper of a Horse ; they are 

 taller than Turkey's. Its eye is black and lively, and its head without comb 

 or cop. They never fly, their Wings are too little to support the weight of their 

 bodies; they serve only to beat themselves, and flutter when they call one another. 

 They will whirl about for twenty or thirty times together on the same side, dur- 

 ing the space of four or five minutes. The motion of their Wings makes a noise 

 very like that of a Rattle; and one may hear it two hundred paces off. The 

 Bones of their Wing grow greater toward the Extremity, and forms a little round 

 mass under the Feathers, as big as a Musket Ball. That and its beak are the 

 chief Defense of this Bird. 'Tis very hard to catch it in the Woods, but easy in 

 open Places, because we run faster than they, and sometimes we approach them 

 without much Trouble. From March to September they are extremely fat, and 

 taste admirably well, especially while they are young. Some of the Males weigh 

 forty-five Pounds. 



" Though these Birds will sometimes very familiarly come up near enough 

 to one, when we do not run after them, yet they will never grow Tame. As soon 



