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The Fossil Record

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The Fossil Record 2 voyagers were liste4 by Hachisuka (1953) and Cheke (Chapter 1); These brief accounts of the flora and fauna The fossil record of the islands were compiled by people with little omithological knowledge, but they do provide a most valuable and historical record of the lost avifauna of the islands. The major dê!ICriptive ONta,logi("al!ltudie!l ba!ied on fossil bones were completed between the years t 1848and 1893,notably by Strickland k Melville (1848), MiIne-Edwards (1867a,b, 1868, 1873), Owen (1866), A. &: E. Newton (1870), GOnther &: E. Newton (1879) and E. Newton &: Gadow (t893). Reeent researeh GRAHAM S.COWLES At the invitation of the British Ornithologists' Union, I visited the Mascarene Islands in 1974 as part of the BOU research programme approved by the Chapter 1 has outlined the e:,<tent to which many Government of Mauritius. Between September and endemic Mascarene Island birds have become extinct, December the islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues and probably.during the last 300 years since man arrlved Réunion were studied, the last aftel consuitation with on the islands. Thirty extinct species are recognised the French authorities. The sites of previous subfossil tod8y (Cowles in press), .but of these only five are finds were investigated and several new areas known from skins preserVed in museums and insti- explored in the at tempt to obtain further bone material tutions throughout the world. Four of these species, ,nd thus increase our knowledge of the extinct the Mauritian Blue Pigeon A'tCfroe/Ias "ifidissi,"a, the avifauna of the islands. Mascarene Parrot from Réunion Mascarinus mas- In consequence of the fieldwork, a complete cari"us, the Rodrigues Parakeet Ps;fftlcula~xsu, and the review of the Mascarene subfossil bird material has contentious Leguat's Starling NtCropStrr(Orphtlno,lSar) been made. This, together with additional material l~gutlfi of unknown locality, are represented by a total discovered in museums, and on the islands in 1974, of only eight skins. The Réunion Crested Starling has resulted in the re-identifieation of some older type Fr~gilupl,s oorius was better represented by 24-25 material, rand the description of seven new species of skins, all documented by Hachisuka (1953), although extinct.birds. Included in the revieware the previously fewer 8urvive today (Chapter 1). The remaining 25 unstudied coUections of E. Thirioux from Mauritius extinct species are known only from fossil bones dis- about 1900, and the important coUections of B. Ker- covered in cavems 8nd deposits on the three islands. vazo made on Réunion in 1974. In number these range to weIl over 200 elements for The present chapter is based on the above data. the better known Solitaire of Rodrigues Pezophapssol- The full review (Cowles in press) gives narnes and ifaritl 8nd perhaps the Mauritius Dodo RIIphus cucul- descrlptlons of the new species (referred to here as 'sp. 'lltl'S, but the remaining species are unfortunately nov.'). known from very few bones or bone fragments. The following abbreviations are used: Identifications based on the osteological evi- BMNH(P), Brittsh Museum (Natural History) dence are in some instances substantiated by field Department of Palaeontology; descriptions and iIlustrations in joumals of seven- BMNH(O) British Museum (Namral History) teenth-century voyagers to the islands. The visitors Sub-deparbnent of Omithology; who added notably to early omithological history UMZC, University Museum of Zoology , Cam- were Leguat (1708), on Rodrigues in 1691, Dubois bridge; (1674), on Réunion 1671-2, and Van Neck, on MNHM, Muséum Nationale d'Histoire Mauritius 1598or 1599(see Strickland 1848).The other Naturelle, Paris. ~ History of sites IInd collectors 91 Hi8tOry of 8ite8 and collectors Réunion MQuritius There seems to be no previous published record The Dodo, the most famous of the Mauritiu5 of fossil bird bones haVing been found on Réunion. endemics, is thought ta have become extin<;t by about Berlioz (1946) and 8arré &:. Barau (1982) have gi~en 1693(although Cheke puts this at 1665:see Chapter 1). details of the early visitors to the islands and discussed Strickland (1844) 5uggested that naturalist5 residing in the birds seen and listed by them. Dubois (1674) the Mascarene Islands should search diligently in the mentioned many of the birds, now extinct, and much alluvial soil and cave floors for evidence of the extinct of his joumal is now confinned by the new fossil avifauna. Twenty-one years laterGeorge Clark (1866), evidence found in 1974. I spent 10 days on the island in a school-teacher resident on Mauritius, discovered November of that year, investigating caves on the that a marshy area near the south-ea5t coast of north-west coast, nea,the town of St.-Paul. It is known Mauritius caUedthe Mare aux Songes contained bones that/he caves were inhabited in the seventeenth cen- of the Dodo and other animals. In September 1865 tury by the first French settlers to reach the isiand, aRd workmen digging peat for enriching the soil on the in investigating these rock shelters it was hoped that Plaisance Estate uncovered bones and a carapace of an bird bones would be found, perhaps in kitchen mid- extinct tortoise. The landowner aUowed Clark ta dens, which would reflect the early endemic aVifauna. remove any bones that he might find in the marsh, and In Aprill974, B. Kervazo had conducted excavations workmen were sent into deep water to feel with their in two of the caves (Bour 1979), and through the feet for bones; this technique met with success and kindness of Dr Dorst, Director of the Muséum soon a few Dodo bones started to emerge. Clark then National d'Históire Naturelle, Paris, pennission was cleared some floating vegetation from the deepest part granted for the examination and identification of the of the marsh, and trapped in the underlying mud he resuiting material. The Kervazo coUection has added found large quantities of bones belonging to the Dodo much to our knowledge of the extinct avifauna of and other birds. The material was sent to Richard Réunion. Owen and Alfred Newton in England and Alphonse .During November 1974 a Visit was also made to Milne-Edwards in Pal"is, for examination and identifi- a subterranean funnel near the viliage of ia Saiine, cation. West Réunion. The Caveme Vergoz, so named after In 1889, 24 years af ter Clark's great discovery, M. Armand Vergoz who was first to discover bones in the Govemment of Mauritius appointed a Commis- the cavem entrance, is situated on a seaward-fadng sion to enquire into the 'Souvenirs Historiques' of the slope caUed Bois de Ne8es. The tunnei, probably an island. Under the direction of Théodore Sauzier dig- old lava tube, descends quite steeply at an angle ging was resumed in the marsh. Many more bones towards the sea. The interior is wet and receives the were excavated, representing various extinct species drainage from the soil above. SmaU stalactites hang which E. Newton & Gadow (1893) examined and from the roof. In the damp mud of the fioor, bones described. were found of the extant Audubon's Shearwater At the end of the nineteenth century the col- Puffinus lherminieri and Wedge-tailed Shearwater P . lector E. Thirioux made excursions to the mountain Le INIcificus, which still breed on Réunion. With these Pouce and ta.n~esclose to the capita.\ of Port Louis a.nd bot\es wete {out\d lhose.0{ lhe 1>iat\tlorto\se. Geoche{one obtained many bones from various unnamed caves. sp. .hich became extinct on Réunion in the nineteenth There is in the Mauritius Institute a very fine and century (Amold 1980, Bour 1981;Chapter 1). Tortoase almost complete mounted skeleton of the extinct rail bones were also found in the coastai caves near St.- Aphanapteryxbonas1a a\\n\>u\ed \() \\is ro\\ect\t\&. The ?au\, \oge\'net wi\'n \'nose 0\ a \arge ex\inct s'Kin'K remainder of the Thirioux collection is in the UMZC. l..eiolopismatel"'irii not preViously known from Réun- II is e~ltaQtdlna\"'f thal.neady aU the fossil evi- \Ot\ ,A.mold \900\. II se.em$.~$.\bl~ ll\a.ll~ vette1 dence relating to the extinct avifauna of Mauritiuli ha bones are contemporary wath the extinct r~ptii, been obtained trom the two sitês, Mare aux Songe: remains. and Le Pouce. With the exception of one Dodo bone A 1-day excursion was inade to an inland are; no new avian ma\etia\ 0{ any ex\inc\ species has heel ca\\ed P\aine des Caites, a \atge atea of f\a\ hea\h\anl found on Mauritius in the last 80 years. about 1676 m above sea level. It was here that th~ 2 Tht' fossil rtcord 92 rn~htle,,1Imll-Ilkc blrd thc ";8(.,r" "".r, wnllllnid tt, hitvC (;Inll~t)w (~trlcklnnll & Ml'lv111e184K). In IK45 L.nrlnln lived. The bird is known only from descriptions in the Kelly or HMS Colnmy made an unsuccessrul search rur early literature of the island (Olson 1977; Chapter 1), the exact locality of the excavation. The bones pre- but has been given the scientific name Porphyrio sented to Paris and Glasgow were examined and c"tnl'esctnS (Sélys-Longchamps 1848). In the part of strlckland rightly concluded that they a" belonged to the plain which Wi1Svisited there were no visible caves the ~,me species, the extinct st)litaire (Pl'zo,"'nps ${1'- taexplore and it was decided that a very careful sh1dy ifnrin) ,.~ich Legu8t had described. of the area would be necessary before any excavating Edward Newton (1865a) visited Rodrigues in is undertaken. 1864 in order to investigate the c8ves. In one of them he found remains of a giant tortoise and two bird bones.
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