Cu. I.] OF THE DODO. 23 
black-letter hand-bill or illiterate tract, which may allude to what must have been, in that 
marvel-loving though unscientific age, a very attractive exhibition. To the bibliophile who 
shall discover such a document, I promise a splendidly-bound copy of THE Dovo-soox. In 
the meanwhile we will pass on to the 
12th independent notice of the Dodo, which is contained in Tradescant’s Catalogue of 
his “Collection of Rarities preserved at South Lambeth near London,” 1656. We here find 
one of the entries “Dodar from the island Mauritius; it is not able to flie being so 
Cas) 
big. 
—p. 4. 
This specimen is enumerated under the head of “ whole birds ;” and Willughby, whose 
“ Ornithologia” was published in 1676, speaking of the Dodo, says, “ Exuvias hujusce avis 
vidimus in museo T'radescantiano.” It is also alluded to by Llhwyd' in 1684, and by Hyde? 
in 1700, having meanwhile passed with the rest of Tradescant’s curiosities into the Ashmolean 
Museum at Oxford, where the head and foot of this specimen are fortunately still extant. I 
shall speak further of these hereafter, and will at present only remark that this is in all proba- 
bility the same individual which was exhibited in London, and which Lestrange described in 
1638. Tradescant, we know, spent his life in collecting curiosities ; and as there was at that 
time scarcely any other museum, public or private,-in Great Britain to enter into competition 
with his, we may suppose that such a rara avis as this live Dodo must have been, would 
naturally on its decease find its way into his cabinet.* Another not impossible conjecture is, 
that this specimen was brought from Mauritius by Sir T. Herbert, who im a letter to Ashmole, 
quoted in Hamel’s “Tradescant der Aeltere,” p. 173, says, “ South Lambeth, a place I well 
know, having been sundry times at M. Tredescon’s (to whom I gave severall things I col- 
lected in my travels).”” 1 think, however, that had the garrulous Sir Thomas actually killed, 
skinned, and brought home a Dodo, he would not have failed to record such an exploit in 
his Travels. 
13. In Piso’s edition of Bontius, 1658, there is a description and figure of the Dodo, 
though perhaps neither can be regarded as original and independent testimonies. The figure 
seems to be copied from one of Savery’s paintings, of which I shall speak presently, and the 
description adds little, if anything, to the details contained in previous authors. Copies of this 
engraving were subsequently published in Thevenot’s Voyages, vol. 1, in Willughby’s 
Ornithology, pl. 27, and other works; but as Piso’s figure is the earliest known copy from 
1 Catalogus Animalium que in Museo Ashmoleano conservantur; MS. No. 29. 
2 Historia Religionis veterum Persarum. 4to. Oxon. 1700, p. 312. Apropos of Zoroaster’s mother, whose name 
was Dodo. He quotes Herbert’s account, and adds (on what authority is unknown) that the bird laid numerous 
eggs, though Cauche’s statement that it lays but one (confirmed by Leguat’s similar assertion of the Solitaire) is 
more probable. ; 
3 Since writing the above, I see that Dr. Hamel has come to a similar conclusion.—Bull. Phys. Ac. Petersb. 
May 29, 1846. 
A 
