62 The Dodo and its Kindred. 



The Solitaire, the brcvipennate bird of the Island of Rodriguez. 



The Solitaire, (Pezohaps solitarius, Sir, and Mel, Didus soli- 

 tarius, Gmelin,) was also a bird of remarkable structure, and the 

 evidence of its existence, although less abundant than that of the 

 Dodo, is equally decisive. 



Rodriguez, an island fifteen miles long by six broad, lying 

 three hundred miles east of the Mauritius, is distinguished as be- 

 ing its birth-place. 





To what class of birds does the Dodo belong ? — Our limits 

 will not permit a discussion of the various opinions which have 

 been entertained by eminent naturalists. The Dodo has been 

 reckoned a Gallinaceous bird — by others as a modified form of 

 the Raptores, or birds of prey ; some have endeavored to trace 

 its analogies with the Penguins, others with the Ostrich, &c. 



Mr. Strickland thus sums up the arguments that go to sustain 

 the opinion first advanced by Prof. Reinhardt, of Copenhagen, and 

 fully sustained by our author, which refers the Dodo to the 

 Columbidae, or pigeons. 



"If now we regard the Dodo as an extreme modification not 

 of the vultures, but of these vulture-like frugivorous pigeons, we 

 shall, I think, class it in a group whose characters are far more 

 consistent with what we know of its structure and habits. There 

 is no a priori reason why a pigeon should not be so modified, in 

 conformity with external circumstances, as to be incapable of 

 flight, just as we see a grallatorial bird modified into an ostrich, 

 and a diver into a penguin. Now we are told that Mauritius, an 

 island forty miles in length, and about one hundred miles from 

 the nearest land, was, when discovered, clothed with dense for- 

 ests of palms, and various other trees. A bird adapted to feed 

 on the fruits produced by these forests, would in that equable cli- 

 mate have no occasion to migrate to distant lands ; it would revel 

 in the perpetual luxuriance of tropical vegetation, and would 

 have but little need of locomotion. Why, then, should it have I 



the means of flying ? Such a bird might wander from tree to 

 tree, tearing with its powerful beak the fruits that strewed the - I 



ground, and digesting their stony kernels with its powerful giz- '- \ 



zard, enjoying tranquillity and abundance, until the arrival of man 

 destroyed the balance of animal life, and put a period to its ex- - J 



istence. Such in my opinion," adds Mr. Strickland, " was the 

 Dodo, a colossal, brevipennate frugivorous pigeon. 77 



This opinion is sustained by many anatomical and other con- | 



siderations which we are obliged to omit. We have endeavored 

 to present a condensed abstract of the historical and descriptive 

 facts, and we have copied one of the figures, that a more definite 

 idea may be obtained of the appearance of this remarkable bird. 



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