THE DODO. t . : 



largely of tli.- soft bullions root.- of M-x.-ral plant.-. Tin- whole . ..ntour ..f ,i|, 



hill is ivmarkable. and d.-cid.-dU ,,i, ;i iiit ; ii- loiind.-d |MN|\ -.-.-ming hardly ii. ,11.-. with 



tli.- lanrr U-ak. which i> nearly a- Ion- a- tin- head, ami ia great I;. ai.-|,.-d ..n th.- u|.|--i man 

 dible. 'I'd.- lower mandible i- deep|\ di-ft into three di-tinct l.-eth near ita tip. 



In <-olor it is rather a l.rilliant l.inl. The head, n.-. k. Inva.-t. ami aMoinen are gloasj 

 irreenish black, and up<>n the shoulders and tin- upi-er [.art of th.- back tli.- feathers are 

 \.-lx.-ty black. -a.-h lia\ ing a crescent-shaped mark of shining green near it* extn-mity. The 

 n-st of tli.- l-a.-k. ill.- \xinir-. tail, ami uml.-r tail-covert- an- deep chestnut. Tin- priman and 

 stvondary >|iiill-feathen of tin- wing aiv gra\i-h-hlack, and the large arched bill is orange. 

 The total length of this bird is about fourteen inches. 



THE DODO. 



Tint position held by the celebrated DODO among birds was long doubtful, nnd was only 



ettl.-d ill .omparatix.-ly lat.- years I \ can-fill viminat i. >n Q| ih.- !'.- nttoi lii< Ii aft "'n -"!,. 

 and -ranty recorda of this very remarkable bird. 



For many years the accounts given by the early voyagers of the Dodar, or Walffh Vogel, 

 found in tin- Mauritius and other islands, were thought to be mervly fabulous narratives, a 

 mental reunion having set in from the too comprehend credulity of the previous times; and 

 the various portraits of the !><M!O to be found in the books of travel were set down as 

 examples, not of the Dodo, but of the inventive faculties possessed by the authors. Truth, 

 hi.-.' <KX! its own ground, as it always will do, and steadily withstood the batteries of 



negative reasonings that were brought to bear on the subject. An entire bird \va.s quietly 

 lodged in a museum at Oxford ; portions of other sj.ecim.-ns made their way to Kuro|e among 

 the curiosities \\hich sailors are so fond of bringing home, and there is every reason to U-M.-ve 

 that a living example of this bird was exhibited in Holland. 



It i-* curious that, but for a code of far-seeing regulations, providing that when the Muffed 

 skin of a bird was so far decayed as to be useless as a s|ni-itnen, the head and feet should be 

 preserved, our U-M and most i>erfect relics of the Dodo would have been burned as u-ele-s 

 rubbish. The specimen at Oxford was suffered to fall into decay, no one seeming to be aware 

 of its priceless value, and when the skin was destmyi-d. the head and feet \\.-p- laid aside and 

 put away with oth.-r objects, among which they wen- afterwards discover.il to the jrn-at joy of 

 the finder. These were sufficiently iM-rf.-.-t to pro\e the real existence of the bird, and the 

 correctness with which it had been depicted by many draughtsmen ; some ]x>rtrait.s !>cing of 

 the rudest description, while others were the work of eminent artists, and most valuable for 

 their high finish and accuracy of detail. The position of the bird among the feathered tribes 

 was long doubtful, and it was provisionally placed U-tween the ostriches and bustards, 

 until, after a careful examination of the relics, it was found to belonir to the pigeon tribe. 

 This decision received a valuable continuation in the discovery f the tooth-billed pigeon, just 

 descril>ed. 



For further information respecting the anatomical and scientific details of this bird, 

 the reader is referred to Strickland and Melville's instructive and interesting work on the 

 subj- 



Many of the earlier travellers have sj>oken of the I>odo a nam.-. by the way. corrupted 

 from the Dutch term Dod-aers and their accounts an- as quaint as the bird which they 

 descril* i example. Ikmtius writes as follows: "The l>r<.nt.-. or I od-aer-. is for bigness 

 of Hi-Mil -i between an ostrich and a turkey, from which it jwirtly differs in shai- and partly 

 agrees with them. <-sj-cial]y with the African o-tiich.-*. if you consider the rump, quills, and 

 feathers ; so that it was like a pigmy among them if you n-ganl the shortness of its legs. 



'It has a great ill-favored head. . ..\.-r.-d with a kind of membrane, resembling a hood; 

 great black eyes; a bending, prominent, fat neck: an extraordinary 1. m:. blui-h- 



.\hite bill, only the ends of each mandible are a diftVn-nt color, that of the upper black, that 



