3388 Mr. H.E. Strickland on the Dodo and its Kindred. 
ness of our views as to the affinities of the Dodo and its kindred 
than is afforded by Dr. Cabot’s brief and unpretending memoir. — 
Prof. Brandt of Petersburg, in a paper published in the ‘ Ver- 
handlungen der Russisch-kaiserlichen Mineralogischen Gesell- 
schaft,’ 1848, p. 201, still maintams the affinity of the Dodo to 
the Plovers, but with this exception I believe that all naturalists 
who have studied the subject are now disposed to regard the 
Columbine characters of the Dodo as predominating over all 
others. 
8. Supposed existence of a gigantic Bird in Madagascar.—l 
have received, through the kindness of F. R. Surtees, Esq., Her 
Majesty’s Commissioner of Arbitration at the Cape of Good 
Hope, the following curious statement, which I insert here, as it 
may have some bearing on the subject of the Dodo or of its 
kindred. I have already alluded in our published work, p. 60, 
to the probable existence of some large brevipennate bird in 
Madagascar, and though it has escaped the search of modern 
naturalists, yet we have the positive testimony of Flacourt that 
such a bird was known in the island two centuries ago. It 
would therefore be unwise summarily to reject a story which, 
however marvellous, may rest on a substratum of truth, and may 
lead to the discovery of important and valuable facts. 
It appears from the information collected and communicated 
by Mr. Surtees, that in Oct. 1848, when H.M.S. Geyser was 
cruising off St. Augustine’s Bay, Madagascar, a French gentle- 
man named Dumarele, who was a passenger oif board, gave the 
following account, which is extracted from the private journal of 
Mr. John Joliffe, Surgeon of the Geyser :—“ After giving an ac- 
count of some curious monkeys with white shining silvery hair, 
M. Dumarele casually mentioned that some time previously, 
when in command of his own vessel trading along the coasts of 
Madagascar, he saw at Port Leven, on the north-west end of the 
island, the shell of an enormous egg, the production of an un- 
known bird inhabiting the wilds of the country, which held the 
almost incredible quantity of thirteen wine quart bottles of flud\'!, 
he having himself carefully measured the quantity. It was of 
the colour and appearance of an ostrich egg, and the substance 
of the shell was about the thickness of a Spanish dollar, and 
very hard in texture. It was brought on board by the natives 
(the race of ‘Sakalavas’) to be filled with rum, having a tole- 
rably large hole at one end, through which the contents of the 
egg had been extracted, and which served as the mouth of the 
vessel. M. Dumarele offered to purchase the egg from the 
natives, but they declined selling it, stating that it belonged to 
their chief, and that they could not dispose of it without his 
