370 APPENDIX. 



There is not to be found in the work of Leguat any passage 

 which can be applied with certainty to this bird, for, when he 

 says, " The island (Mauritius) was formerly filled with Geese and 

 witli Wild Ducks, Water-hens, Wood-hens {GeUnottes), Turtles, 

 and Tortoises, but all that is become rare,"i there is nothing to 

 prove that these Water-hens were Coots ; and if they belonged 

 to this genus it would be reasonable to suppose that he here 

 spoke of the FuUca crisfata. 



M. Milne-Edwards then proceeds to explain how the disappear- 

 ance of such a bird can be accounted for, in the same manner as 

 other unwieldy birds which cannot fly well soon become extinct 

 when brought into contact with man and carnivorous beasts. 

 So the giant Coot of Chili, the Dinornis of New Zealand, and the 

 ^pyornis of Madagascar, the Dodo of Mauritius, the Solitaire of 

 Rodriguez, and even the Great Auk, despite its rapidity in 

 swimming and the bad flavour of its flesh. So also the Apteryx 

 of New Zealand and the Rhinochetus of New Caledonia are 

 becoming daily more rare ; and if the Cassowaries and the 

 Ostriches are yet common, it is only attributable to the immensity 

 of the desert plains where they dwell. 



M. Milne-Edwards continues: " The Mascarene Islands are of 

 so inconsiderable extent that they have not been able long to 

 serve as a refuge for birds of massive form, which lived thei'e in 

 great numbers at an epoch when man had not yet penetrated to 

 them. 



" The Coot of Newton formed part of this ancient and so 

 remarkable fauna, which also counted among its representatives 

 the Dodos of Mauritius and Bourbon, the Solitaire, the Geant 

 {Leguatia Glgantea), the Blue-bird, which Mr. Schlegel refers 

 without doubt to the genus Notornis, and two extinct sjDecies of 

 parrots. Sevei'al of these birds have been only met with, and 

 some are only known by a fragment of skeleton, the others by a 

 short description or an imperfect drawing : there are yet therefore 

 many discoveries to awaken the attention of all zoologists, and 

 ought to incite them to combine their eff'orts to lift the veil which 



1 See ante, p. 209. 



