CHAPTER II.
The Brcvipcnnatc Bird of Rodriguez, the SOLITAIRE.
{Pezophaps so/ilaria, nobis;—Ditlits solilarius of Gniehn.)
Keul.-n^- <f Legnat i of IlerUrt—Bones sent to the Paris Museum ; to the AudtfMmi.:.: M/'nun. at Glasgow;
to tie Zoological Society of London—Affinities of He Solitaire.
I NOW proceed to notice another bird of equally remarkable structure to the Dodo, and the
evidence, both historical and osteological, of whose existence, though less abundant, is equally
positive. The Island of Rodriguez, which is about fifteen miles long by six broad, and
situated about three hundred miles to the east of Mauritius, gave birth to an apterous bird
called the Solitaire,' which seems to have been an homologous representative of the Dodo in
the last-mentioned island.2 Rodriguez appears to have remained in a desert and uninhabited
condition until 1 0 9 1 , when a party of French Protestant refugees settled upon the island,
and remained there for two years. Their commander, Francois Leguat, a man of intelligence
and education, has left a highly interesting account of their adventures, and of the various
productions of the island. The cliief portion of his work which concerns us at present
I will extract in the French original, accompanied by an old translation.
1 The name Solitaire had originally heeu given to an allied, though doubtless distinct, bird in ltourbon, of
which -hill -peak presently. I.egieit (who never visited Boill'boil) probably Slipp'-e<; the Itudrigilc/. bird In be
the same species, and therefore gave it the name which other voyagers had imposed on the ltourbon bird. But a*
I.equal's bird is the type of the "Didus solitaries" of systematise, I prefer retaining for it par excellence the
name of Solitaire.
3 Representation in Zoology is of two kinds, analogous and homologous. Analogous representation is where a
group or species in onr part of the organic creation perioral' a similar office, and is, quoad hoc, similarly organi/cd.
to a group or species in another part: e. g., the Cetacea among Mammals represent Ig analcgg the Fish among
Vertelirala. This kind of representation exist- irrespectively of time and -pace. Homologous representation i>
where two groups or species in the sa/ur part of tin- organic creation perform a similar nlliiv in different geographical
regions, or at different time-. Thus the Klephints of India and of Africa represent each other Ig homologg in
space, as the Mammoth and modern Elephants do in time. Sec Philosophical Magazine, Ser. 3. vol. xxviii. p. 351.
Flote llf*f>¿6.
English Bay. The Peak. Waterfall Glen Port rviathurm.. CasfeihU. Oyster-Bay. friar's Hood. Diamond Island
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