©miiuU Articles, 



THE ISLAND OF RODRIGUES. AXD ITS FAUXA, 

 AS THEY ^T:RE. AXD AS THEY ARE.* 



By the Rev. H. H. Slatek, B.A., F.Z.S., &c., 

 President Vertebrate Section, Yorkshire Naturalists' Union ; late Naturalist to 

 H.M. Transit of Yenus Expedition to Kodrigues, 1874, ice, kc, kc. 

 ( Concluded.) 



In 1805 the Hon. EdwcL Xewton, then Colonial Secretary of Mauri- 

 tius, obtained a large number of bones from the caves, which he 

 described, in conjunction with his brother, Professor Newton of 

 Cambridge, in 1868, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal 

 Society. The truthfulness and accuracy of observation of Leguat, the 

 original describer of the solitaire, came out very strikingly when the 

 bones of the birds became known. [An enlarged copy of a represent- 

 ation of the solitaire from one of the woodcuts which illustrate 

 Leguat's voyage was exhibited by Mr. Slater.] I here quote an 

 abbreviated description of it from his own words : — 



" Of all the birds in the island the most remarkable is that which 

 goes by the name of the solitary, because it is very seldom seen in 

 company, tho' there are abundance of them. They have scarce any 

 tail, but their hindpart covered with feathers, is roundish, like the 

 crupper of a horse ; they are taller than turkeys. Their neck is 

 straight, and a little longer in proportion than a turkey's when it lifts 

 up his head. They never fly, their wings are^too little to support the 

 weight of their bodies. The bone of their wing grows greater toward 

 the extremity, and forms a little round mass under the feathers as big 

 as a musket baU. That and its beak are the chief defence of this bird. 

 'Tis very hard to catch it in the woods, but easie in open places, 

 because we run faster than they. Some of the males weigh 45 pounds. 

 When these birds build their nests they choose a clean place, gather 

 together some palm leaves for that purpose, and heap them up a foot 

 and a half high from the ground, on which they sit. They never lay 

 but one egg, which is much bigger than that of a goose. The young 

 bird is not able to provide for itself in several months." 



Such is Leguat's description. With regard to the "little round 

 mass as big as a musket ball," on the wing (which by the way has not 

 been mentioned as occurring in the dodo^\ I will introduce to your 

 notice a figure of the metacarpal bone of the solitaire, which bone in 

 birds coiTesponds, as you will know, to those which are in the palm of 

 the human hand, between the wrist and the fingers. Yon see 

 X. S., YoL. VII.— Sept., 1881. 



