Cu. IIL] BIRDS IN MADAGASCAR. 61 
travellers have alluded to the existence of any Struthious or brevipennate birds in Madagascar, 
though from the following passage in Flacourt’s Histoire de la grande Isle Madagascar, pub- 
lished at Paris in 1658, 4to., it appears that a bird of that family inhabited Madagascar less 
than two centuries ago. Flacourt tells us that “the Vouron patra is a large bird which 
frequents the region of Ampatres [a province at the south extremity of Madagascar] and lays 
eggs like the Ostrich. It is a kind of Ostrich; the inhabitants are unable to capture it, and 
it inhabits the most desert places.” 
“Oyseaux qui hantent les bois. Vowron patra, c’est un grand oyseau qui hante les Ampatres et 
fait des ceufs comme 1’ Autruche; c’est une espéce d’ Autruche; ceux des dits liewx ne le peuvent 
prendre ; il cherche les lieux les plus déserts.”—p. 165. 
This brief indication may perhaps guide the future explorer of Madagascar to a dis- 
covery of great zoological interest. 
On a review of the various Historical and Osteological evidences which I have now 
brought together, it seems sufficiently clear that the three oceanic islands, Mauritius, Rodri- 
guez, and Bourbon, which, though somewhat remote from each other, may be considered as 
forming one geographical group, were inhabited, until the time of their human colonization, 
by at least four distinct, but probably allied, species of brevipennate birds. This result at 
once reminds us of the analogous case of the New Zealand group of islands, where the 
scientific zeal of Messrs. Cotton, Williams, Colenso, Mantell, and others, has brought to 
light a mine of osteological treasures, from which the consummate sagacity of Prof. Owen 
has re-constructed two new genera of brevipennate birds. Seven species of Dinornis and two 
of Palapteryr have been clearly established and elaborately described by Professor Owen, 
while in the still surviving genus Apferyx, of which Mr. Gould has very recently described a 
second species, we see an almost expiring member of the same zoological group.! 
The extraordinary success of the naturalists of New Zealand, in procuring from recent 
alluvial deposits a series of osseous remains which have more than doubled the number of 
Struthioid birds previously known, should encourage the scientific residents in the islands of 
the Indo-African Sea to make similar researches. I feel confident that if an active naturalist 
would make a series of excavations in the alluvial deposits, in the beds of streams, and 
amid the ruins of old habitations in Mauritius, Bourbon, and Rodriguez, he would speedily 
discover remains of the Dodo, the two “ Solitaires,’ or the “ Oiseau bleu.’ But I would 
' The recent discovery of the heads of Dinornis and Palapteryx has proved that these two genera are not so 
nearly allied as was at first supposed. Professor Owen read a paper on the subject to the Zoological Society, 
January 11th, 1848, in which he shows that “ the beak of Palapteryz is decidedly Struthious. The beak and skull 
of Dinornis differ very essentially from any form, either recent or extinct.”—( Atheneum, no, 1057, p.116). Ina 
recent communication to the Geological Society, Feb. 2nd, 1848, Dr. Mantell states that the ornithic bones sent by 
his son from New Zealand are referable to no less than five genera.—(Atheneum, no. 1061, p. 218), 
