We have often remarked, that some days after the young one leaves the nest, a company of 30 or 40 bring another young one to it, and the new fledged bird, joining the band with its father and mother, they march to some bye place. We frequently followed them, and found that afterwards the old ones went each their way alone, or in couples, and left the two young ones together, which we called a marriage."
Leguat's, d'Heguerty's, and the Abbé Pingré's descriptions were all we had of this great ground pigeon down to 1866, except a few bones. When Mr. Strickland proved its distinctness from the Dodo of Mauritius in 1844, and up to 1852, these bones numbered 18. In 1864 Mr. E. Newton and Captain Barclay got 3 more bones, in 1865 Mr. Jenner, the resident magistrate, collected 8 bones, and in 1866 nearly 2,000 bones were collected, but during the Transit of Venus expedition in 1874, a thorough search was made, and a number of complete skeletons was collected.
Habitat: Island of Rodriguez.
Represented in Museums by a number of complete skeletons and a large number of bones.
Explanation of Plates.
Plate [23].
Coloured drawing made from Leguat's description and figure.
Plate [25 (a)].
Fig. 1. Outline of figure in Leguat's Voyage, 1708.
Fig. 2. Outline of Schlegel's reconstructed figure of the Solitaire, 1854.
Fig. 3. Outline of Solitaire in Frontispiece to Leguat's Voyage, 1708.