The Dodo.- 



-BIKDS. 



-The Dodo. 



393 



tions of the early voyagers, it appears that the Dodo 

 was a bulky and heavy bird, larger than a swan, and 

 weighing sometimes as much as fifty pounds. It had 

 a long and strong bill, with the basal portion of the 

 upper mandible depressed and membranous. The 

 apical part of this mandible was strong, horny, much 

 arched, hooked, and acute, giving the organ so much 

 resemblance to that of a vulture that the Dodo was at 

 one time regarded as allied to those birds of prey. 

 The nostrils were placed in the sides of the membranous 

 base of the upper mandible, and in all respects the 

 structure of the bill presents so great a similarity to 



that occurring in the Didunculus, that, on the discovery 

 of the latter bird, the resemblance could not be 

 overlooked. The feet of the Dodo were short and 

 exceedingly stout, and, although presenting a certain 

 resemblance to those of a Pigeon, indicated clearly 

 enough that their possessor was a strictly terrestrial 

 bird; indeed, its wings being very short, and furnished 

 only with soft decomposed feathers, like the well-known 

 Ostrich plumes, were quite incapable of raising it from 

 the ground. From this rudimentary condition of its 

 wings, the Dodo was long regarded as allied to the 

 Struthious birds, and it is still placed in the same order 



l-iB. 12.1. 





The Dude (Didus ineptus). 



with these by some ornithologists, although it must 

 be confessed to be a very anomalous occupant of 

 such a position. The body of the Dodo seems to 

 have terminated in a rounded extremity, and to have 

 been destitute of true tail-feathers, but a tuft of plumes 

 similar to those of the wings occurred low down on its 

 back, and probably represented the tail-coverts. The 

 plumage of the Dodo was blackish, with the light 

 feathers of the wings and so-called tail pale fawn 

 colour. 



That the occurrence of a large and sluggish bird 

 like the Dodo upon the distant island of Mauritius 

 must have been a welcome phenomenon to the Dutch 

 sailors who discovered it, cannot admit of much doubt ; 

 and we can easily understand that in their subsequent 

 voyages to the East Indies, they were only too glad 

 to avail themselves of the abundant supply of fresh 

 meat afforded by the Dodos, after being restricted 

 for months to the salt provisions of their ships' stores. 

 It is, however, remarkable that the only relics of so 

 singular a bird, which was certainly living two cen- 

 turies ago, and of which specimens were undoubtedly 

 imported into Europe, should be of so fragmentary 

 a description. This is still more strikingly the case 



VOL. I. 



with two other species nearly allied to the Dodo, of 

 which only a few bones are known to exist : — 



THE SOLITAIKE [Didm soUtarius) is one of those 

 which existed, together with two other species, one of 

 which appears to have been the Dodo, on the httle 

 island of Rodriguez. It is described by a French 

 sailor, named Leguat, as attaining a weight of forty-five 

 pounds, having feet and beak like a turkey's, and in 

 other respects closely resembling the Dodo. The 

 plumage was of a brownish-gray colour, and, according 

 to Leguat, the birds produced a noise like a rattle by 

 fluttering with their wings, which, he says, have the 

 extremity of the bone enlarged into a round knob like 

 a musket ball. 



THE NAZARENE [Didus Nazaremis) is a bird 

 described by another Frenchman, named Fran^oib 

 Coache. It is said to have had only three toes. The 

 bones which are conjectured to have belonged to this 

 bird, indicate that it must have been nearly twice the 

 bidk of the Dodo.* 



* For further information tipon these interesting birds the 

 reader should consult the important work of IVIessrs. Striclvland 

 & Melville — "The Dodo and its Kindred" — and a valuable 

 paper by Mr. Bartlett in the Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society. 



3d 



