FLIGHTLESS BIRDS AND THEIR FATE. 75 



are all instances of flightless birds which have 

 suffered extinction within the memory of man, 

 in the case of the last-named, within the present 

 century. 



" As extinct as the dodo " is a very familiar 

 simile, but probably few know what manner of 

 bird — or if indeed ib is a bird — they speak 

 of. This remarkable bird was an inhabitant of 

 Mauritius — an island in the Indian Ocean to the 

 east of Madagascar. It was, the old travellers 

 tell us, of about the size of a swan and of great 

 stupidity. Our best descriptions of the bird 

 in a living state come from the Dutch. Speci- 

 mens undoubtedly were brought over to Europe 

 and exhibited as curiosities, and one or more of 

 them sat for its portrait not once but many 

 times. One of these pictures, and of the birds 

 at least two, were brought to this country. One 

 of the birds seems to have found its way into 

 the dissecting room, and another was exhibited 

 alive in London in 1638. Sir Hamon Lestrange 

 — to quote an article on this subject by Pro- 

 fessor JS^ewton — says, that as he walked London 

 streets he saw a picture of a strange fowl hung 

 out on a cloth canvas, and on going in to see it 

 found a great bird kept in a chamber, "some- 

 what bigger than the largest turkey cock 

 and so legged and footed, but shorter and 

 thicker." The keeper called it a dodo, and 

 showed visitors how it would swallow " large 

 pebble stones ... as big as nutmegs." It is 

 probable that this found its way eventually 

 to Oxford among a collection of stuffed birds. 

 In 1755 its remains were seriously threatened 



