 The supposed " white dodo " ( or " solitaire " ) of Réunion is now considered an erroneous conjecture based on contemporary reports of the Réunion ibis and 17th @-@ century paintings of white , dodo @-@ like birds by Pieter Withoos and Pieter Holsteyn that surfaced in the 19th century . The confusion began when Willem Ysbrandtszoon Bontekoe , who visited Réunion around 1619 , mentioned fat , flightless birds that he referred to as " Dod @-@ <unk> " in his journal , though without mentioning their colouration . When the journal was published in 1646 , it was accompanied by an engraving of a dodo from Savery 's " Crocker Art Gallery sketch " . A white , stocky , and flightless bird was first mentioned as part of the Réunion fauna by Chief Officer J. Tatton in 1625 . Sporadic mentions were subsequently made by Sieur Dubois and other contemporary writers . 
