ON EXTINCT BIRDS OF THE MASCARENE ISLANDS. 365 



" Although it could fly it had much trouble, according to 

 Leguat, in rising from the ground, and its flight was doubtless 

 slow and difficult, owing to the shortness of its wings and the 

 length of its legs and neck. It is probable that, like all Water- 

 hens, it could run fast, though not fast enough to escape from 

 dogs, as Leguat states that they could catch it, and that it tried 

 to save itself by flying up. As all marsh-birds, at least when 



LE GilANT. 



they are obliged, can swim, and Waterhens, in particulai", swim 

 voluntarily and even very much, so this bird also will have swum 

 regularly, and probably very well, owing to its light weight and 

 the extraordinary development of its legs and long toes serving 

 as oars. There is also no reason to suppose that its food and 

 way of breeding would have been very different from that of the 

 Waterhens. It was doubtless a stationary bird, being unfitted 

 for migration ; and there was no occasion for it to undertake 



