_Sarcidiornis mauritianus_ Newton & Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p.
290, pl. XXXIV, figs. 9-10.
The evidence on which this species is founded is a single left metacarpal
and an incomplete left half of the pelvis. Its specific character is the
very large size as compared to the two existing species.
Habitat: Mauritius.
In an old work entitled "Memorandums concerning India" by J. Marshall
(1668) in the article on the Island of Mauritius, there occurs this
passage: "They are many Geese; the halfe of their wings towards the end are
black and the other halfe white; they are not large, but fat and good.
Plenty of Ducks." As there is no mention of the caruncle on the bill here
or in other authors alluding to geese in Mauritius, Oustalet doubted that
these geese were this _Sarcidiornis_, but I believe this merely to have
been an oversight of Marshall's and that his description goes far to prove
the distinctness of Newton and Gadow's species.
The allusion to the small size also points to the geese of Marshall being
the _Sarcidiornis_. L'Abbé Dubois in "Les Voyages du Sieur D.B." records
the fact that on Bourbon were some wild geese slightly smaller than the
geese of Europe but having the same plumage. Their bill and feet were red.
It is also probable that wild geese were found on Rodriguez. There is
nothing to show what these Bourbon geese were, and as no osseous remains of
such birds have been found as yet it is impossible to do more than mention
the fact of such birds having been recorded.
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