260 Mr. H.E. Strickland on the Dodo and its Kindred. 
tekoe (see ‘Dodo and its Kindred,’ p. 63), but the description is 
evidently taken from Clustus, Exotica, cap. iv. The author ju- 
diciously points out the discrepancy between the colour of the 
wings as given by Clusius and Bontius, which is explained by 
Dr. Hamel (‘ Der Dodo,’ &c. pp. 25, 34) to have arisen from a 
mistranslation of the original Dutch ‘of Van Neck. : 
It is remarkable that although Holme takes his description 
from the works of Clusius and Bontius, yet his figure is copied 
from neither, but is taken from a third, and wholly independent, 
source. This seems conclusive as to the actual existence of a 
family bearing these arms ; for had they been Holme’s own in- 
vention, he would naturally have copied the figure from one of 
the two works which furnished him with the description. So 
now to our author. . 
“He beareth Sable a Dodo, or Dronte proper. By the name 
of Dronte. This exotic bird doth equal a Swan in bigness, and 
is of some authors termed Gallus Peregrinus and Sygnus Cu- 
cullatus, a Hooded Swan; yet it is of a far differrent shape. 
For the head is great, covered (as it were) with a certain mem- 
brane, resembling a hood. The bill is thick, and long, yellow 
next the head, the point black ; the upper chap is hooked at the 
end, the lower chap had a blew spot between the yellow and 
black. It is covered with thin short feathers, and wants win 
in stead thereof it hath four or five long black feathers ; that the 
hinder part of the body is round, flat, and fleshy, wherein for the 
tail were four or five small curled feathers, twirled up together, 
of an ash colour. The legs thick and short with long sharp 
pointed toes, yellowish ; claws black. Thighs covered with black 
feathers, the rest of the body grey. Yet Bontius, lib. 5. chap. 17. 
in his History of India, describes it to have a great ill-favoured 
head, covered with a membrane like a hood ; the bill bluish white, 
the tips of the upper mandable black, the lower yellow, the body 
is covered with soft grey feathers ; the soft feathered wings of a 
yellowish ash colour ; legs yellowish, and both them and the toes 
set with broad scales.” 
5. Stones in the stomach of birds, indicative of frugivorous 
habits —In the ‘ Dodo and its Kindred, ? p. 43, it is stated that 
