In the report, he described encounters with various indigenous species, including a white and black bird which fed on eggs and dead tortoises.

François Leguat, a Frenchman who was also marooned on Rodrigues from 1691 to 1693 and had written about several species there (his account was published in 1708), did not have a boat, and therefore could not explore the various islets as Tafforet did.

[4] In an article written in 1875, the British ornithologist Alfred Newton attempted to identify the bird from Tafforet's description, and hypothesised that it was related to the extinct hoopoe starling (Fregilupus varius), which formerly inhabited nearby Réunion.

[5] Subfossil bones of a starling-like bird were first discovered on Rodrigues by the police magistrate George Jenner In 1866 and 1871, and by the British naturalist Henry H. Slater in 1874.

In 1879, the bones became the basis of a scientific description of the bird by ornithologists Albert Günther and Edward Newton (the brother of Alfred).

Due to the strongly built bill, they considered the new species likely the same as the bird mentioned in Tafforet's account.

[7] In 1900, the English scientist George Ernest Shelley used the spelling Necrospa in a book, thereby creating a junior synonym; he attributed the name to zoologist Philip Sclater.

[10] More subfossils found in 1974 added support to the claim that the Rodrigues bird was a distinct genus of starling.

[12] In 1898, the British naturalist Henry Ogg Forbes described a second species of Necropsar, N. leguati, based on a skin in the World Museum Liverpool, specimen D.1792, which was labelled as coming from Madagascar.

[15] In 1953, Japanese writer Masauji Hachisuka suggested that N. leguati was distinct enough to warrant its own genus, Orphanopsar.

Hachisuka was reminded of corvids because of the black-and-white plumage, and assumed the bird seen by Tafforet was a sort of chough.

[18] Hachisuka's assumptions are disregarded today, and modern ornithologists find Tafforet's bird to be identical to the one described from subfossil remains.

[6][17][19] In 1987, the British ornithologist Graham S. Cowles prepared a manuscript that described a new species of Old World babbler, Rodriguites microcarina, based on an incomplete sternum found in a cave on Rodrigues.

These birds are a little larger than a blackbird [Réunion bulbul (Hypsipetes borbonicus)], and have white plumage, part of the wings and tail black, the beak yellow as well as the feet, and make a wonderful warbling.

He made several comparisons between the faunas of different locations, so the fact that he did not mention a crest on the Rodrigues starling indicates that it was absent.

The supraoccipital ridge on the skull was quite strongly developed, and a biventer muscle attachment in the parietal region below it was conspicuous.

The keel of the sternum (breast-bone) was similar to that of the hoopoe starling, though the front part was 1 mm lower.

The ulna was small, relatively gracile, and had distinct quill knobs (where the secondary remige feathers attached).

The tibiotarsus (lower leg bone) was large, robust, with a broad and expanded shaft, and was 52–59 mm (2.0–2.3 in) long.

The tarsometatarsus (ankle bone) was long, robust, with a relatively straight shaft, and measured 36–41 mm (1.4–1.6 in).

Tafforet did not see any Rodrigues starlings on the mainland, but he stated that they could easily be reared by feeding them meat, which indicates that he brought young birds from a breeding population on Île Gombrani.

[6] Many other species endemic to Rodrigues became extinct after humans arrived, and the island's ecosystem is now heavily damaged.

[24] Leguat mentioned that pigeons only bred on islets off Rodrigues, due to predation from rats on the mainland.

At least five species of Aplonis starlings have become extinct in islands of the Pacific Ocean, and rats also contributed to their demise.