#1 Copy oj'a Letter from Mr. Strickiatd. 



Copy of a Letter on the extinct Birds belonging U 

 the gt/ius Did us, addressed 



To tht Honorable Mr. Q. C. Cluinohamb, 

 Part-Louis.' 



Oxford, Novemb«b 1846. 

 Sir, 

 Sir W. C. Trevelyan has lately communicated to me 

 a letter from yourself to him, giving an account of your 

 endeavours to obtain further evidence as to the fossil 

 bones found some years since in Rodrigues. 1 am 

 happy to find that a communication of mine respecting 

 the Dodo and Solitaire which Sir W. forwarded to you 

 has been the means of calling your attention to the 

 subject, and though your efforts have as yet been un- 

 successful, yet from the zeal which you have shewn in 

 the cause of science, I feel little doubt as to your ulti- 

 mate success. I consider it as certain that some 200 

 years ago the three islands of Mauritius, Bourbon, and 

 Rodrigues were each inhabited by a different species 

 of large bird deprived like the Ostrich and Apterix of 

 the power of flight. Of these, the best known is the 

 Dodo, i\ro ssulls of which exist, one at Copenhagen, 

 the other at Oxford. The description and figure of 

 the Solitaire of Rodrigues given by Leguat in his very 

 interesting Voyage are so exact and circumstantial as 

 to leave no doubt whatever of the veracity of his rela- 

 tion. The same may be said of the " Oiseau Bleu " of 

 Bourbon, described in a manuscript Journal belonging 



