238 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



three hundred species are recognized, divided by some writers into many genera, all 

 having agreeably colored plumage, and many are clothed in feathers of most brilliant 

 and opposite hues, varied in numerous instances with bright metallic coloration. 

 The general form of the pigeon is rounded and heavy for the size of the birds, the 

 flesh plump and tender, affording excellent food for man. The order Columbae may 

 properly be divided into rive families, --Carpophagidae, Columbidae, Gouridae, Didun- 

 culidaj, and Didiidae. The last differs in so many respects, however, that it might 

 with some propriety be advanced to a sub-order. The Didiidae is first to be consid- 

 ered in reversing the arrangement given above, as in an ascending scale they occupy 

 the lowest rank. 



There are two authenticated species of the family DIDIID^E, representing, however, 

 very distinct genera, viz., the familiar dodo, Didus ineptus, of the islands of Rodriguez, 



Bourbon, and Mauritius ; and 

 the solitaire, Pezophaps soli- 

 taria, also of Rodriguez and 

 Mauritius. Both of these 

 curious and gigantic birds 

 are now extinct. A second 

 species of, dodo was described 

 as D. mazarenus, from a met- 

 atarsal bone, but it is now 

 considered, at least by some 

 naturalists, doubtful if this 

 remnant, although much lar- 

 ger than similar bones of 

 D. ineptus, really does repre- 

 sent a distinct species. The 

 dodo was a huge ungainly 

 bird, incapable of flight, and 

 weigh ing between forty and 



O O v 



fifty pounds. It was quite 

 abundant in Mauritius in the 

 commencement of the 17th 

 century, and great numbers 

 were killed by sailors for 

 food. The testimony given 

 as to the quality of its flesh 

 varies somewhat, but the ver- 

 dict would appear to be that it was not very palatable. A live bird was in London in 

 1638, and its portrait was taken by several artists, the pictures being preserved to-day 

 in different museums in England and on the continent. In 1644 the Dutch introduced 

 dogs and hogs into the island, and these, by destroying the young of the dodo, prob- 

 ably contributed greatly towards its extermination, and in 1693 or thereabout these 

 curious birds became extinct. But few remains of the dodo are preserved, only one 

 or two nearly perfect skeletons and a number of different bones, the majority of 

 which were discovered in a small swamp in the island of Mauritius, called la Mare aux 

 Songes. 



From a careful study and comparison of these remains it is proved that this 





FIG. 113. Dldus ineptus, dodo. 



