128 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



The specimen above mentioned, which I have placed in the 

 Norwich Museum, is in immature plumage, resembling H. 

 eleonora at the same age, and H. subbuteo in the mature dress ; 

 a few grey feathers, however, are visible, indicating that the 

 assumption of the adult plumage had just commenced. 



To the skin was attached a ticket, of which the following is a 

 copy : — 



"Eats dragonflies, grasshoppers, &c. Flies like a Swallow 

 in the evening. Tarsus yellow ; iris brown. Elephant Marsh, 

 1/63." I am, &c., 



J. H. GURNEY. 



Following quickly on the discovery of remains of the Rodri- 

 guez Didine bird, mentioned in our last volume (p. 551), has 

 come news of a still more interesting discovery in the neigh- 

 bouring island of Mauritius. Mr. George Clark, a gentleman 

 living at Mahebourg, near the site of the old Dutch town of 

 Grand Port, has had the good fortune to find a large number of 

 bones of the true Dodo [Didus ineptus) in the mud of a small 

 mere, called the " Mare aux Songes," which has been lately 

 drained. These he has sent to England; and they include al- 

 most every portion of the bird's skeleton. The most perfect 

 series has been transmitted to Professor Owen, by whom they 

 will be described in the ' Transactions of the Zoological Society.' 

 The next perfect set is, thanks to Mr. Clark, in our own pos- 

 session, and the remainder, which also passed through our hands, 

 are shortly to be disposed of by Mr. Stevens, the well-known 

 natural-history agent. An examination of these bones most 

 decidedly confirms Professor Reinhardt's view of the Columbine 

 affinities of the Dodo ; but, for all that, it may well be that the 

 Didida formed an order of themselves. A more wonderful 

 structure than the Dodo's skeleton it is not easy for the orni- 

 thologist to conceive ! 



