Birds. 159 



for particular notice were a young Adjutant, which was 

 described as " a young Hazgil, or Giant Crane, from India, which, 

 when full grown, is by far the largest of all the Heron tribe " ; 

 other birds were the " Argus Pheasant, from Sumatra, the Black 

 or Crested Curasso-bird, the Shining African Thrush, the Lonsr- 

 shafted Goatsucker from Sierra Leone, etc." 



" Some birds, on account of their inconvenient size, could not 

 be admitted into the general assortment. Of these the most 

 remarkable is the Cassowary, an Indian bird which some ornitho- 

 logists place among the Grallse, others among the Gallinse, and 

 others in a particular division distinct from both." 



The following interesting account of the painting of the Dodo 

 follows on p. 47 : — " We must not omit a curious picture, executed 

 long ago in Holland, of that extremely rare and curious bird the 

 Dodo, belonging to the tribe Gallinse, and a native of the island 

 of Bourbon. The picture was taken from a living specimen, 

 brought into Holland, soon after the discovery of the passage to 

 the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, by the Portuguese. 

 It was once the property of Sir Hans Sloane, and afterwards of 

 the celebrated ornithologist George Edwards, who presented it to 

 the British Museum." It is undated, but is probably one of 

 several painted by Roelandt Savery between 1626 and 1678. 

 {Gf. Newton, Diet. B., pp. 157, 158.) 



There were two table-cases in this Room XL, one containing 

 nests, "amongst the most curious of which are several hanging- 

 nests, chiefly formed by birds of the Oriole tribe ; nests of a 

 small species of Asiatic Swallow, resembling isinglass in substance, 

 and considered as a great delicacy by the Chinese, who use it in 

 preparing a rich soup called bird-nest soup ; two nests of a small 

 bird called the Taylor-bird, composed of leaves sewed together ; 

 bills of various rare birds, of which the most remarkable are 

 several kinds of Rhinoceros-birds' bills, quills, feathers of the great 

 South American vulture called the Condor, a leg of a Dodo, in a 

 glass." {Cf. Newton, I.e.) 



On the second table were deposited a variety of eggs and 

 nests, among them those of the Ostrich, Cassowary, Crocodile, etc. 

 Mammals were in " cases between the windows," the Black 

 Ourang Outang in a young state, the Chestnut Ourang Outang, 

 in a young state, a long-tailed Macauco, etc. " In other parts of 

 the room were to be found the ' Sea Otter, the Musk, from 

 Thibet,' the ' Vamj^yre, or Great South American Bat,' the 

 ^Platypus anatinus, or Duck-bill ' (by some called Orniihorhynchus 



