Note 23 — THE DODO AND ITS KINDRED.[19]

The companions of Vasco de Gama had, at an earlier period, applied the name of Solitaires to certain birds found in an island near the Cape of Good Hope; but these must not be confounded with those of the Didine group above referred to. They were, in fact, penguins, and their wings were somewhat vaguely compared to those of bats, by reason of the peculiar scaly or undeveloped state of the feathers in these birds. Dr Hamel has shown that the term Solitaires, as employed by the Portuguese sailors, was a corruption of sotilicairos, an alleged Hottentot word, of which we do not profess to know the meaning, being rather rusted in that tongue. We know, however, that penguins are particularly gregarious, and, therefore, by no means solitary, although they may be extremely sotilicairious for anything we can say to the contrary.