STONE FOUND WITH REMAINS OF SOLITAIRE. 357 



in case of fire iu the island, which has been known to have 

 denuded it several times of its trees ; more so as he found in 

 several cases nearly perfect skeletons, which lay evidently as they 

 died. This, he adds, precludes the idea that they were carried 

 there by wild cats. 



It is more likely that the birds took refuge in the caves during 

 hurricanes, and were then overwhelmed by torrents of water and 

 mud. 



The attention of Mr, Slater was drawn to the statement of 

 Leguat, as to the stone found witliin the Solitaire, before he went 

 to Rodriguez in 1874 ; but notwithstanding his examination of 

 tlie caves, he was unsuccessful in finding anything bearing out 

 the strange report. Shortly after, however, Mr. Caldwell visited 

 the island and obtained three of what he believed to be the stones 

 mentioned bv Leguat.^ One is figured in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions, Roy. Soc, vol. clxviii. It weighed a little over If oz. It 

 is brown, somewhat rough, heavy, and hard. It can scarcely, 

 however, be called flat on one side, but, in connection with this 

 fact, it may be remarked that the bird with whose remains it 

 was associated appears to have been young. 



FrauQois Cauche, describing the l)irds of ]\Iadagascar and 

 adjacent islands (1638), mentions somewhat similar stones. 



" La figure de cet oiseau est dans la 2 nauigation des Hollandois 

 aux Indes Orientalles, en 29 dice de I'an 1598. lis I'appellent de 

 nausee. 



" J'ay veu dans I'isle Maurice des oiseaux plusgros qu'vn cygne, 

 sans plumes par le corps, qui est couuert d'un duuct noir, il a le 

 cul tout rond, le cropion orne de plumes crespucs, autant en 

 nombre que chaque oiseau li d'annees, an lieu d'aisles ils out 

 pareilles plumes que ces derniers, noires et recourbees, ils sont 

 sans langues, le bee gros se courbant un pen par dessous^ hauts 

 de iambes, qui sont escaillees, n'ayant que trois ergots a chaque 

 pied. II a vn cry comme I'oison, il n'est du tout si sauoureux a 

 manger, que les fouches et feiques, desquelles nous venons de 



1 One of these stones is shown iu the photograph of the skeleton 

 in tlie Cambridge Museum. Vide frontispiece. 



