THE MASCAEENE ISLANDS. 133 



indicating a fair amount of flight when in^the air, though Leguat says it had 

 much trouble in rising. The words ^' Auis Indica" appear below the figure. 



Here, then, we have in Adrian CoUaert, so far as is known, the fountain- 

 head. But where did he get his idea from .^ Was it from a Portuguese 

 source ? Did ^he ever see a living bird ? Probably not. According to 

 Bryan's ' Dictionary/ Adrian Collaert, a Flemish designer and engraver, was 

 born at Antwerp about the year 1520. Now 1502 and 1545 have been both 

 assigned as dates for the discovery of Bourbon and Mauritius, and Collaert's 

 work was published in 1580; therefore between these dates the bird or 

 drawing must have come to Europe. 



Leguat, however, is the only author who saw the former, as far as we 

 know. He states ('Voyage to the East Indies,' by Francis Leguat, p. 171 ; 

 A.D. 1708) : — " You shall see great flights of bitterns, and many of those Birds 

 called Giants, because they are six feet high. They are extreamly high 

 mounted, and have very long necks : Their bodies are not bigger than that 

 of a goose. They are all white, except a little place under their wings, which 

 is reddish. They have a Goose's Bill, but a little Sharper ; their claws are 

 very long, and divided. They feed in Marshy Places, and the dogs frequently 

 surprize them, because they require a considerable time to get upon the wing : 

 We Saw one one day at Rodrigo, and w^e took him with our Hands he was 

 so fat. That was the only one we observed then, which made me inclinable 

 to believe, he had been carry'd thither by some wind he could not resist. 

 This game is good enough'' — too good, we should say, for its continued 

 existence, as the result proves. 



