 Unlike the dodo , no Rodrigues solitaires are known to have been sent to Europe alive . However , it has been claimed that 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 . 
