162 Prof. Schlegel on some Extinct Gigantic Birds 
And this judgment will, we hope, he adopted by every one of 
us. In this little work, according to Leguat*, the Geans are 
named among the birds of Bourbon; and we read further of 
them, “ Les Geans sont de grands Oiseaux montez sur des 
echasses, qui frequentent les Rivieres & les Lacs, & dont la chair 
est a-peu pres du gout de celle du Butor.” That by these 
Geans the Solitaires of Bourbon cannot be meant, appears by 
their manner of living, and by the taste of their flesh. To 
determine them more precisely is not very possible, on account 
of the incompleteness of Du Quesne’s account; but this still 
shows that there lived in Bourbon a gigantic marsh-bird, which, 
like the Dodo, has long ago vanished, and which probably was 
of the same species as the Geant of Leguat, or related to it, 
since it lived by rivers and lakes ; and these, with marshes, 
form the abode of Waterhens. 
More uncertain it is whether the birds which were found in 
these islands by several old travellers, and by them spoken of 
under the names of Flamingo or Passe Flamingo, really were 
Flamingos, or whether under these names were comprehended 
the gigantic birds of Leguat, or of Du Quesne and Leguat. 
Herbert f, for instance, enumerates among the birds of 
Mauritius the “ passe Flamingos;” and in Harry’s manuscript 
journal above mentioned occurs the name pasca fflemingos.” 
Dellon J says that in Bourbon one could catch the birds with the 
hand, or kill them with sticks, adding, “ The only ones for 
which a gun is wanted were called Flamends —Flemings. 
They are as big as a young Turkey, having legs and 
necks four or five feet in length; the difficulty there is in catch¬ 
ing them makes them more scarce than the rest.” Beyer Cor- 
neliszoon§ also speaks of Flamencos in Mauritius. It is pro- 
* Ibid. i. pp. 55, 56. In tke English translation of this work (Lon¬ 
don, 1708), which is otherwise very accurate, and in which the original 
plates are copied with perfect exactness, the word Geant (at page 41) 
is translated by Peacock, but later (p. 171) by Giant. 
t Relation du Voyage, &c., French translation. Paris, 1663, 4to. 
p. 544. 
t Naauwkeurig verhaal van een Reyse door Indien, &c. (Dutch 
translation.) Utrecht, Ribbius, 4to, 1687, p. 9. 
§ Journal, p. 30. 
