THE MASCARENES 
170 
At no time, indeed, were there any of the larger land 
mammals, but the dugongs [Halicore cetacea) frequently 
sought the shore region. They were so tame that they 
could be killed on the beach without difficulty. 
The land birds, too, which occurred in great numbers, 
showed so little fear that they could be caught with the 
hand. There were gigantic flightless ground-pigeons on 
all three islands, one species peculiar to each; they were 
called dodo or dronte. The dronte of Mauritius [Didtts 
ineptus) attained the size of a goose. It was first mentioned 
in 1598, but by 1693 it was already completely extermin¬ 
ated, for the mariners and the Dutch settlers killed the 
birds wholesale. Reunion had a species of a different 
colour, almost white {Didtts bo 7 do 7 iic?is), which still occurred 
frequently in the last century. The solitaire (Pezophaps 
solita 7 mis) inhabited the island of Rodriguez and has left 
a large quantity of bones there. A gigantic waterhen 
of the height of a man, the Geant [Callmula gi^mitea), 
once lived in Reunion and Mauritius, and was observed 
still in great numbers by Leguat in 1693. A blue sul¬ 
tana of considerable size, called by the inhabitants doiseau 
blett de Bo 7 L 7 po 7 i and designated by Schlegel Po 7 phy 7 'io 
coe 7 adesce 7 is^ was peculiar to Reunion. The F 7 ^egilupus 
cape 7 isis^ which approached our hoopoe, has recently 
become extinct, and a shrike (Oxy 7 iotus Newtoni)^ formerly 
widely distributed, has become rare. Large land-tortoises 
seem to have been present in all three islands in abund¬ 
ance, for when Leguat arrived at Rodriguez in 1691, 
he saw bands of 2000 to 3000 together. The ground 
was so paved, as it were, with them, that it was possible 
to take a hundred steps at a time, striding from one 
back to another. A similar account was given about 
Mauritius and Reunion so late as the middle of the last 
century, but since then the extinction has become com¬ 
plete. Other animals, on the other hand, have been 
introduced, intentionally or not, as the squirrels from 
