12 



There is little doubt, that together with the wild dog 

 and the wolf, and perhaps beaver, a species of bear pro- 

 bably similar to the individual of old German forests, inhabited 

 our woods. We find frequent allusions in the grants and 

 notitise to "bear dogs," dogs employed in hunting the 

 bear. Even the woods around Canterbury, the Blean or 

 " Blen " as it was called anciently, were the abode of the 

 bear as well as wolves and foxes. 



Taking a wider range, we find that of birds, the Dodo, 

 moa, or dinormis,* and perhaps the great Awk may be con- 

 sidered extinct. Considerable interest has of late years 

 been attached to the histories of two of these examples by 

 the discovery of an almost entire skeleton of the Dodo at 

 the Mauritius, in the mud and deposit nf a pond or morass, 

 by Mr. George Clark, of Mahebourg, and the interesting 

 circumstance brought to light that an egg of the Moa, rest- 

 ing in the bony hand of a human skeleton, has been ex- 

 humed from a grave in New Zealand. This egg 

 was probably a trophy to the fame of some chief 

 or native, who had slain or captured one of these 

 gigantic birds - or buried with him as a charm 

 or as one of the most valuable of his possessions. The 

 discovery of the bones of the Dodo ineptus, almost com- 

 plete I believe, are still more important— as the remains of 

 this bird have hitherto been confined to a very small portion 

 of its frame - nevertheless, the Dodo has been drawn at full 

 length. Buffon has a portrait of it, and all manner of hy- 

 pothetical sketches have been given. Now however the re- 

 mains of this bird have been handed over to Professor 

 Owen, we shall have most probably an opportunity of test- 

 ing how far the ideal creature has conformed to the shape 

 and appearance which its osseous structure suggests. The 

 Dutch, indeed, who boast of having seen numerous indivi- 



* Note. — Dinormis, said by Professor Owen to be three 

 times the size of the ostrich, but the head only eight inches 

 lon^'.— 7V/rtes, 22nd Febrbary, 1866. 



