468 Notices respecting New Books. 



world ; and notwithstanding the preservation of portions of such 

 specimens, and those the most important in determining the zoolo- 

 gical characters of the hird to which they belonged, some naturalists 

 of the past and present century have not scrupled to deny the reality 

 of the Dodo itself, and have attributed the whole to the inventive 

 imagination of voyagers and artists. Scepticism in matters far more 

 important has frequently been productive of the greatest benefit, by 

 exciting attention to the subject in dispute ; andthus have we become 

 indebted to the authors of the present work, on which they have 

 exercised much labour and ingenuity, and have brought to their aid 

 the most skilful delineation which modern art could yield. 



Much contrariety of opinion has existed among naturalists, who, 

 believing in the reality of the Dodo, have been unsuccessful in their 

 attempts to reconcile the anomalies presented by its form and struc- 

 ture. To both of these subjects our authors have addressed them- 

 selves ; and they have divided their researches into two distinct 

 parts ; the first containing the history and external characters of the 

 birds, by Mr. Strickland ; and the second part consisting of a minute 

 osteological investigation, by Dr. Melville. 



The first part comprises three chapters ; the first being devoted to 

 the consideration of the Dodo from the Mauritius, the second to the 

 Solitaire of the island of Rodriguez, and the third chapter to the 

 allied birds of the Isle of Bourbon. The evidence used in treating 

 of the Dodo is of three kinds, — historical, pictorial and real, agree- 

 ably to the plan adopted by a preceding writer, Mr. Broderip. 

 Although the discovery of the Mauritius was made during the first 

 half of the sixteenth century, yet no published account of the island 

 or of its natural history is known prior to the voyage of a Dutch 

 fleet under Admiral Van Neck in 1598. 



" In the published narrative of this voyage it is stated that they found in 

 the island a variety of pigeons, parroquets, and other birds, among which 

 were some which they denominated Walckvogel, the size of swans, with a 

 large head furnished with a kind of hood ; no wings, but in place of them 

 three or four small black quills ; and the tail consisted of four or five curled 

 plumes of a gray colour. The Dutch sailors called them Walckvogel, or 

 disgusting birds, from the toughness of their flesh, as might be expected in 

 the strongly developed crural muscles of a cursorial bird, though they 

 found the pectoral muscles more palatable." — P. 9. 



Accompanying this notice of Van Neck's discovery is a fac-simile 

 of plate 2 of his work, in which the voyagers are represented in 

 bustling activity in their several occupations ; and the figure of a 

 large bird resembling the above description forms a conspicuous 

 object in the drawing. By diligent research among the works of the 

 voyagers and writers in natural history of the seventeenth century, 

 especially the earlier ones, a very considerable amount of evidence 

 has been collected and carefully inserted in the work ; and though 

 the descriptions and drawings of that period are not so precise and 

 faithful as those of the present day, yet they are sufficiently exact 

 to leave no doubt in the mind of a candid reader both as to the reality 

 and identity of the subject described under different names, as Walck- 



