 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 . Sir Thomas Herbert mentioned " dodos " on Rodrigues again in 1634 , and they were also mentioned in 1700 . 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 . Leguat was the leader of a group of nine 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 . The Huguenots praised the Rodrigues solitaires for their flavour , especially that of the young , and used their gizzard stones as knife sharpeners . D 'Héguerty later claimed these were also useful in medicine , and referred to them as bezoars . 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 . 
