151 



LEGUATIA SCHLEGEL. 



BODY not larger than that of a goose ; wings rather short but still 

 fitted for flight ; feathers of the legs reaching down almost to the 

 top of the tarso-metatarsus ; toes long and completely free, middle 

 toe almost as long as tarso-metatarsus. Bill with a naked shield reaching 

 back beyond the eye. Height about 6 feet. 



LEGUATIA GIGANTEA SCHLEGEL. 



(Plate 31.) 



Le Giant Leguat, Voyages (1708), p. 171, English edition. 



Leguatia gigantea Schlegel, Versl. Med. Akad. Wetensch. Amst. VII, p. 142 (1858). 



LEGUAT'S description is as follows : " . . . and many of those birds 

 called giants, because they are six feet high. They are extremely 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, only a little sharper; their claws 

 are very long and divided." This bird was apparently confined to the island 

 of Mauritius. 



Professor Newton asserts that Leguat's "Geants" were Flamingos, 

 principally because bones of Flamingos have been found in Mauritius and 

 not a single bone has ever been got of the "geant." This argument is, in my 

 opinion, insufficient, and no evidence at all. We know that a Didine bird and 

 a gigantic rail existed on Reunion, but no bones are yet known of these. I 

 think, like Professor Schlegel, that Leguat's figure and description cannot 

 be meant for a Flamingo and that they prove the former existence of a 

 gigantic ralline bird in Mauritius. 



The figure is made up from Leguat's description. The bill is drawn 

 like that of a gigantic moorhen, and so are the feet. 



Habitat : Mauritius. 



