(PLATE 31.)
_Le Géant_ Leguat, Voyages (1708), p. 171, English edition.
_Leguatia gigantea_ Schlegel, Versl. Med. Akad. Wetensch. Amst. VII, p.
142 (1858).
Leguat's description is as follows: "... and many of those birds called
giants, because they are six feet high. They are extremely high mounted,
and have very long necks. Their bodies are not bigger than that of a goose.
They are all white, except a little place under their wings, which is
reddish. They have a goose's bill, only a little sharper; their claws are
very long and divided." This bird was apparently confined to the island of
Mauritius.
Professor Newton asserts that Leguat's "Géants" were Flamingos, principally
because bones of Flamingos have been found in Mauritius and not a single
bone has ever been got of the "géant." This argument is, in my opinion,
insufficient, and no evidence at all. We know that a Didine bird and a
gigantic rail existed on Réunion, but no bones are yet known of these. I
think, like Professor Schlegel, that Leguat's figure and description cannot
be meant for a Flamingo and that they prove the former existence of a
gigantic ralline bird in Mauritius.
The figure is made up from Leguat's description. The bill is drawn like
that of a gigantic moorhen, and so are the feet.
Habitat: Mauritius.
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