210 BITTEENS AND GIANTS. [1696. 



great flights of Bitterns/ and many of those Birds call'd 

 Giants,^ because they are six foot high. They are extreamly 

 high mounted, and have very long necks : Their Bodies are 

 not bigger than that of a Goose. They are all white, 

 except a little place under their Wings, which is reddish. 

 They have a Goose's Bill, but a little sharper ; their Claws 

 are very long, and divided. They feed in Marshy Places, 

 and the Dogs frequently surprize them, because they require 

 a considerable time to get upon the Wing : We saw one one 

 day at Rodrigo, and we took liim with our Hands, he was so 

 fat. That was the only one we observ'd there, which made 

 me inclinable to believe he had been carry 'd thither by 

 some Wind he could not resist. This Game is good 

 enough. 



There are also a kind of small Birds^ pretty much like 

 our Sparrows, except that their throats are red. Parrots* of 



negroes are not unacquainted with the method of harpooning them. 

 Sea-cows are sometimes caught here ; I have eaten of them ; their 

 flesh is like beef ; I never saw any of this fish.'' (Voyage to the Isle of 

 France, I. c, p. 75.) 



1 " Bitterns." Probably the night-herons, now extinct, before men- 

 tioned, at Rodriguez. At Reunion ancient voyagers speak of large 

 blue birds, which frequented the plaine des Cafres, which are supposed 

 to have been the Madagascan '■'■ poule sultane'^ {porphyrio Madagas- 

 cariensis); vide ante, p. 45. See Appendix. 



2 "There are there a great many birds, such as bitterns {puttooren) ; 

 also a bird called the giant, because its head stands quite five to six 

 feet high, besides they are very long in the legs and neck, but as to 

 the body not larger than a goose. Perhaps this is the walg-vogel about 

 which we read in the second voyage of Jacoh van Neck.'" (Valentyn, 

 op. cit., p. 152 ; vide ante, p. 44, and Appendix.) 



3 ''There is a beautiful titmouse here with a number of white specks 

 on the wings, and the Cardinal (Foudia Madagascaricnsis), whose head, 

 neck and belly, at a particular season, are of a lively red ; the rest of 

 its plumage is of a pearl -coloured grey. 'Ibis bird comes from Bengal." 

 (B. de St. Pierre, p. 133). Rice-birds or " calfats'' {Mnnia oryzwora). 



4 Parrots (Lophopsittacus, and PoHopsitta cana) and parroquets(Co?-a- 

 copsis vaza ?). " I have seen many sorts of Parrots, but iione very hand- 

 some. There is a species of green parroquet with a grey head. They 



