THE MASCAEENE ISLANDS. 131 



GALLINULA (LEGUATIA) GIGANTEA. 



(Plate LIII.) 



In 'The Ibis/ 1866 (n. s. vol. ii.) pp. 146-168, Prof. Schlegel has an 

 article " On some Extinct Gigantic Birds of the Mascarene Islands/' and thus 

 describes (p. 167) the one under consideration : — 



" GaLLINULA (LeGUATIAJ GIGANTEA. 



'' ' Le Geant/ Leguat, Voy. ii. p. 72, fig. 



^^ ^, „ Du Quesne apud Leguat, op. cit, i. p. 55 (?). 



'' ' Straussartiger Yogel/ Hamel, Bullet. Acad. St. Petersb. vii. No. 5 et 6 [pp. 65-96]. 



'' ' Flamingo/ Strickland, ' The Dodo, &c.' p. 60 (note) . 



" Stature, six feet high. Body not heavier than that of a Goose. 

 Wings pretty short, but fit for flight. Feathers of the tibia reaching pretty 

 close to the tarsus. Toes long and quite free, those in front about as long 

 as the tarsus. Upper mandible extended in a plate reaching beyond the eye. 

 General colour white, with a reddish spot under the wing. Colour of the 

 feet and bill unknown, but probably not very remarkable, as the description 

 does not mention it. 



'^ Bab. Mauritius, perhaps also Bourbon; once accidentally met with in 

 Rodriguez. 



" Observed with certainty only by Leguat in 1694. Since that time not 

 remarked again, and evidently long ago completely extirpated. 



" Seems to represent the Crane-type among the Waterhens." 



I have now before me three authors, with a plate of this bird in each. 

 Before, however, going into them, one cannot help remarking with what 

 acumen Professor Schlegel assigned ''Le Geant" to its true position, though 

 at the time he wrote he only had to deal with Leguat's bad representation. 



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