342 APPENDIX. 



types which Leguat observed at Rodriguez in 1691, but which no 

 longer exist in our days." 



Among the bone and fragments found in the caves side by 

 side with the remains of the Pezophaps or Solitaire, M. Milne- 

 Edwards discovered " portions of the skeleton of a small fowl, some- 

 what resembling the wingless rail {Ocydromi) of New Zealand, and, 

 like that bird, incapable of flying, of which the metatarsus more 

 resembled that of Aplianapteryx of Mauritius than of Tribonyx. 



"At the present day there does not exist at Rodriguez any 

 bird having the least resemblance with the Ocydromi., or the other 

 species of the same family ; but all the osteological characters 

 which I have just pointed out agree very well with the idea that 

 can be formed of certain birds which inhabited this island in 

 great numbers some two centuries ago, and wdiich Leguat 

 noticed under the name of GtUnoles. 



" These were evidently not moor-hens, and they could not 

 belong to this zoological gi'oup, for they had, according to Leguat, 

 their beak long and straight and pointed, something like that of 

 the Ocydromi, and, like those rails, they were hardly able to fly ; 

 a peculiarity which is not observable with any other bird whose 

 beak is shaped in this form. They also resembled the Ocydromus 

 by a physiological singularity. ' If you offer them anything 

 that is red, they are so angry that they will fly at you to catch it 

 out of your hand, and in the heat of the combat we had an 

 opportunity to take them with care.' [Vide ante. p. 81,) 



" Now, I have observed the same instinct with the Ocydromi 

 of the menagerie at the Museum of Natural History, and an 

 English traveller, who has lived a long time in New Zealand, 

 Mr. Strange, informs us that the best manner of catching these 

 rails is to place oneself right in their sight, holding in tiie hand a 

 piece of red stuff; for as soon as they perceive it, they throw 

 themselves upon it, and allow themselves to be killed rather than 

 be driven from the object which excites their anger. I should 

 add that this instinct has been established and utilised in the 

 same manner with the Aphanapteryx, which bird towards the end 

 of the 17th century was living in Mauritius, but the species of 

 which has nowadays disappeared. 



