56 ON "GELINOTTES." [PART I.
Bécasse," were caught with a red rag like Leguat's Gelinottes. On the other hand,
Mr. Higgins informs me that a species of Numida, or Guinea-Fowl, is now abundant in
Rodriguez (introduced probably by the early voyagers), and it is therefore possible that
Leguat's description may be intended for this bird, although the discrepancies are considerable.
The Gelinotte question is therefore open to further investigation, and I would especially
recommend it to the attention of the " Société d'Histoire Naturelle de l'Ile de Maurice." C H A P T E R I I I.
Brevipennate birds of the Isle of Bourbon.
Evidence of Castlelou; of Bontekoe; of Carré; of Sieur B. B.; of Billiard; of a British Officer—
Indications of a Brevipennate Bird in Madagascar—Review of the whole subject—Analogical case of
New Zealand—Conclusion.
THE volcanic island of Bourbon, which lies about one hundred miles to the S.W. of Mauritius,
is proved by indubitable evidence to have been inhabited by two species of birds, whose
inability to fly, and their consequent rapid extinction, brings them into the same category
with the Dodo of Mauritius and the Solitaire of Rodriguez. It will be remembered that
Bourbon was discovered between 1502 and 1545 by Mascaregnas, a Portuguese, who
called the island by his own name, but seems to have left us no other record of his visit.
1. The earliest notice which concerns us is by Captain Castletou, who visited Bourbon
in 1613. In the account of his voyage, written by J. Tatton, one of his officers, we read :—
"There is store of Land-fowl, both small and great, plentie of Doves, great Parrats, and such
like; and a great fowl of the bigness of a Turkie, very fat, and so short winged that they cannot tlie,
becing white, and in a manner tame ; and so are all other fowles, as having not been troubled nor feared
with shot. Our men did beate them down with sticks and stones. Ten men may take fowle enough
to serve forty men a day." (Purchas, ed. 1625. vol. i. p. 331. This narrative was also published
separately in 1690, and is included in Provost's Histoire Générale des Voyages, vol. ii. p. 120; in
Harris's Voyages, vol. i. p. 1 1 5 ; and in Grant's Mauritius, p. 16-1.)
2. In 161S, Bontekoe, a Dutch voyager, spent twenty-one days in Bourbon, which he
describes as abounding with Geese, Parrots, Pigeons, and other game, and adds, " there were
also Dod-eerscn, which have small wings, and so far from being able to fly, they were so fat
that they could scarcely walk, and when they tried to run, they dragged their under side
along the ground." The original words, contained in the Joumacl ofte gendenckwaerdige
Beschryvingc van de Oost-Indische Reyse van Willem Ysbrantz Bontekoe van Iloorn, 4to.
Rotterdam, 167-1, are as follows :—
" Daer waren oock cenigc dod-eersen, die kleyne vleugels hadden, maer konden niet vliegen, waren
soo vet datse qualijck gaen konden, want als sie liepen, sleeptc haer de neers langhs de aerde."—p. 7.1
1 Bontekoc's Voyage was published in Dutch at llaerlcm in 1646, at Rotterdam in 1647, at Utrecht in 1649
and 1661, and at Amsterdam in 1648, 1650, and 1656. A French translation will be found in Thcvenot's
Relations dc divers Voyages Curieux, Paris, 1663, vol. i., and a German one in Hulsius's " Vicr und zwanzigste
Schiffart," &c. 4to. Franckfort, 1648. p. 7.