354 APPENDIX. 



species man generally acts indirectly ; and they succumb to 

 forces set in motion indeed by him, but without a thought on his 

 j)art of their effect. In the case of the extinction of the Solitaire 

 of Rodriguez, the cause usually suggested seems inadequate ; and 

 the authors consider it was probably effected by feral swine, and 

 quote a remarkable passage from an old French Voyage, showing 

 the extraordinary abundance of these creatures in Mauritius, 

 ■where, in or about the year 1708, above fifteen hundred had been 

 slain in one day. It is plain that where these pigs abounded, 

 inactive birds could not long survive. It is supposed that the 

 case was the same in Rodriguez as iu Mauritius ; for in every 

 country newly discovered by Europeans, it has been the almost 

 imiversal custom to liberate pigs, and there is no reason to believe 

 tliat this island 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, per- 

 haps, by a study of the remains. The rugose surface at the base 

 of the maxilla, the convexity of the pelvis, the somewhat lighter 

 weigiit 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 appear- 

 ance is so exactly that of diseased bone, that it may have been 

 first 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 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 w^ell-known bird 

 {Otis tarda) is cited to show, that even now, after centuries of 

 observation, it is doubtful whether it be monogamous or poly- 



