283 



especially while they are young ; some of the males weigh forty-five 

 pounds. 



" The females are wouderfully beautiful, some fair, some brown ; I 

 call them fair, because they are of the colour of fair hair. They have 

 a sort of peak, like a widow's, upon their breasts {lege beaks), which 

 is of a dun colour. No one feather is straggling from the other all 

 over their bodies, they being very careful to adjust themselves, and 

 make them all even with their beaks. The feathers on their thighs 

 are round hke shells at the end, and being there very thick have an 

 agreeable effect. They have two risings on their craws, and the 

 feathers are whiter there than the rest, which hvelily represents the 

 fine neck of a beautiful woman. They walk with so much stateli- 

 ness and good grace, that one cannot help admiring and loving them ; 

 by which means their fine mien often saves their hves." — Leguafs 

 Voyage to the East Indies, 1708, p. 71. 



You win perceive this bird was said to be larger and taller than a 

 Turkey. A comparison of this metatarsal bone with the metatarsal 

 bone of the Turkey I think will satisfactorily show the accuracy of 

 Leguat's description, and at the same time justify our conclusion 

 that this metatarsal bone belonged to the Sohtaire of Rodriguez, to 

 which the name oiBidus solitarius has been apphed. I trust I shall 

 be pardoned for avoiding the use of the new generic term adopted by 

 the authors of 'The Dodo and its kindred,' for in a group so httle 

 known, and at present so limited in species, it seems to me so much 

 to increase the trouble and difficulty of those who endeavour to study 

 such subjects, that I cannot help expressing my behef that many of 

 the new names so often introduced serve only to impede and embarrass 

 us, and I therefore regard them as much worse than useless. 



I have now remaining the bone of a bird which when ahve was 

 much larger, heavier, and more powerfid than the Bodo. For further 

 examples of this bird's bones, I must refer to the plates in the work 

 before alluded to, by Mr. Strickland and Dr. Melville : plate xv. fig. 2, 

 the metatarsal bone of the large species in the Andersonian Museum, 

 Glasgow ; fig. 3, a metatarsal bone in the Parisian collection. A glance 

 at these specimens will, I imagine, convince any one that this bird 

 was of gigantic size, and probably double the weight of the Bodo. I 

 am sure it cannot be supposed (after what has been said) that Leguat 

 was describing this great bird when he wrote his beautiful description 

 of the Sohtaire. Another important fact will, I think, set this question 

 at rest. Leguat states, that some of the males of the Sohtaire weigh 

 forty-five pounds. Now we know the weight of the largest Turkeys 

 to be considerably less, rarely reaching thirty pounds, while the weight 

 of the Dodo is stated to have been at hast fifty pounds. It cannot, 

 therefore, be supposed, had Leguat seen birds nearly double the size 

 of the Dodo, he could have made the statements or comparison he 

 has made between the Sohtaire and Turkey. 



I have before expressed my great dislike to an unnecessary increase 

 of names : I feel, however, the necessity of finding an appropriate 



