Editing Rodrigues solitaire (section)

==Relationship with humans==

{{multiple image
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|image1 = Rodrigues.jpg
|alt1 = Map of Rodrigues, decorated with solitaires

|image2 = Leguat Settlement.jpg
|alt2 = Map of human settlement on Rodrigues

|footer = Leguat's 1708 maps of Rodrigues and his settlement. Rodrigues solitaires are distributed across the maps, many in pairs
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The Dutch viceadmiral Hans Hendricksz Bouwer was the first to list "dodos", most likely referring to the Rodrigues solitaire, as part of the fauna of Rodrigues in 1601.<ref>{{cite journal |doi= 10.3366/anh.2003.30.1.13 |last= Hume |first= J. P. |year= 2003 |url= http://julianhume.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Hume-Gelderland.pdf |title= The journal of the flagship ''Gelderland''&nbsp;– dodo and other birds on Mauritius 1601 |journal= Archives of Natural History |volume= 30 |issue= 1 |pages= 13–27}}</ref> The English traveller [[Sir Thomas Herbert]] mentioned "dodos" on Rodrigues again in 1634, and they were also mentioned in 1700.<ref name="Fuller2002"/> The next account, which was the first referring to the bird as the "solitaire", was published in François Leguat's 1708 memoir, ''A New Voyage to the East Indies''.<ref>{{cite book| last= Leguat| first= F.| author-link= François Leguat| year= 1708| title= Voyages et Avantures de François Leguat & de ses Compagnons, en Deux Isles Desertes des Indes Orientales, etc.| edition= 2nd| publisher= Jean Louis de Lorme| location= Amsterdam| url= https://archive.org/stream/voyagefranoisle01missgoog#page/n191/mode/1up| page=77}}</ref> Leguat was the leader of a group of nine [[France|French]] [[Huguenot]] refugees, who were the first to colonise the island from 1691 to 1693, after they were marooned there by their captain. His description of the Rodrigues solitaire and its behaviour is the most detailed account of the bird in life, and he also described other species that are now extinct. Leguat's observations are considered some of the first cohesive accounts of animal behaviour in the wild. He later left for Mauritius, but was too late to observe dodos there.<ref name="ChekeHume2008p167"/>

The Huguenots praised the Rodrigues solitaires for their flavour, especially that of the young, and used their gizzard stones as [[knife sharpener]]s. D'Héguerty later claimed these were also useful in [[medicine]], and referred to them as [[bezoar]]s.<ref name="ChekeHume2008p167"/> The second most detailed description of the bird was found in an anonymous document rediscovered in 1874 called ''Relation de l'Ile Rodrigue'', which has been attributed to Julien Tafforet, a mariner marooned on Rodrigues in 1726. His observations are considered credible, though it is known he had a copy of Leguat's memoirs with him during his stay.<ref name="HumeSteel2013"/>

[[File:Leguat1891frontispieceFr1708.jpg|thumb|[[Book frontispiece|Frontispiece]] to Leguat's 1708 memoir, showing his settlement on Rodrigues, and a solitaire in the middle|alt=Drawing of houses on Rodrigues]]
Many old accounts mention that Rodrigues solitaires were hunted by humans. The Danish zoologist [[Japetus Steenstrup]] noted that some Rodrigues solitaire remains bore traces of having been broken by a human or perhaps another large predator, to extract [[bone marrow]].<ref name="NewtonClark1879"/> Writing in 1735, the French lieutenant Gennes de la Chancelière described the capture and consumption of two specimens as follows:
{{blockquote|Our men told of having seen goats and a large quantity of birds of different kinds: they brought, amongst others, two of which were bigger by a third than the largest turkey; they appeared, nevertheless to be still quite young, still having down on the neck and head; their wingtips were but sparsely feathered, without any proper tail. Three sailors told me of having seen two others, of the same species, as big as the biggest [[ostrich]]. The young ones that were brought had the head made more or less like the latter animal, but their feet were similar to those of turkeys, instead of that of the ostrich which is forked and cloven in the shape of a hind's foot. These two birds, when skinned, had an inch of fat on the body. One was made into a pie, which turned out to be so tough that it was uneatable.<ref name="ChekeHume2008p167"/>}}
Unlike the dodo, no Rodrigues solitaires are known to have been sent to Europe alive. However, it has been claimed that the French naval officer [[Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais]] sent a "solitaire" to France from the nearby island of Réunion around 1740. Since the Réunion solitaire is believed to have become extinct by this date, the bird may actually have been a Rodrigues solitaire.<ref name="ChekeHume2008p111"/>

===Extinction===
The Rodrigues solitaire probably became [[extinct]] sometime between the 1730s and 1760s; the exact date is unknown. Its disappearance coincided with the [[tortoise]] trade between 1730 and 1750; traders burnt off vegetation, hunted solitaires and imported cats and pigs that preyed on eggs and chicks.<ref name="ChekeHume2008p111"/> In 1755, the French engineer [[Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny]] attempted to obtain a live specimen, as he had been assured the Rodrigues solitaire still survived in remote areas of the island. Though trying for 18 months, and offering large rewards, none could be found. He noted that cats were blamed for decimating the species, but suspected that it was due to hunting by humans instead.<ref name="ChekeHume2008p111"/> The French astronomer [[Alexandre Guy Pingré]] did not encounter any solitaires when he visited Rodrigues to observe the [[1761 transit of Venus]], although he had been assured they survived. His friend, the French astronomer [[Pierre Charles Le Monnier]] named the constellation [[Turdus Solitarius]] after the bird to commemorate the journey. Although the Rodrigues solitaire is the only extinct bird to have a [[former constellation]] named for it, celestial mapmakers did not know what it looked like and [[star map]]s depicted other birds.<ref name="Fuller2002"/>

By the time the discovery of subfossil Rodrigues solitaire bones from 1786 onwards confirmed Leguat's descriptions, no living residents of Rodrigues remembered having seen live specimens. In 1831, a man who had lived on Rodrigues for 40 years said that he had never seen birds large enough to be Rodrigues solitaires. Rodrigues covers only {{convert|104|km2}}, making it implausible that the bird would have survived undetected.<ref name="Fuller2001"/>