The Dodo and its Kindred. 



63 



♦ 



• In 1691, a party of French Protestants led by Francois Leguat, 

 settled upon this island, then uninhabited, and remained there 

 two years. Leguat was an intelligent and educated man, and has 

 left a very interesting account of their adventures and of the pro- 

 ductions of the island. 



The Solitaire, 



, The most interesting part of his work, for our present purpose, 

 1S that relating to the Solitaire. Although, remarks Leguat, they 

 are fiumerous, they are generally seen alone, or only in pairs and 

 very rarely in flocks. On the males the feathers are brown gray ; 

 teet-and beak like those of a turkey but more crooked ; stern round 

 with very little tail, but covered with feathers. Neck straight, 

 longer than a turkey's, with elevated head. They are taller than 

 turkeys. Eyes black and lively, and the head without a comb or 

 C0 P- Being almost wingless they cannot fly j they beat them- 

 selves with their wings, making a noise like a rattle, and audible 

 -00 paces off; they flutter when they call one another. They 

 hirl twenty or thirty times together in the same direction during 

 four or five minutes. Its defense is its beak and a little round 



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