MR. A. NEWTO^^ ON THE DIDINE BIED OF BOUEBOX. 375 



if it had possessed a Scolopacine bill, the fact would have been mentioned. I venture 

 to suggest that Du Bois must have written some other word, and that " Becasses " is a 

 false reading, or else that a treacherous memory supplied the statement. 



It now remains for me to remark on the pictiu-e exhibited. It represents apparently 

 a flooded meadow, in the pools of which various aquatic birds are distributed, while the 

 Dodo is standing, with an expression of alarm on his countenance, on a scanty bit of dry 

 ground. By his side is seated a fine Bernicla rujicollis, somewhat too brilliantly coloured 

 perhaps ; and the other birds portrayed are Cej^j^hus grylle (engaged with a small eel or 

 snake), Mergus castor (a female or immature male), Ciconia aJha, Clangula glaucion, 

 FhHx fuligula, and Mareca iJeiielojie (a female). These are all ckawn with much atten- 

 tion to detail, and generally very fairly coloured. The Dodo and the Goose form the 

 principal figures in the composition. The beak of the Dodo, as represented here, also 

 demands a word of comment ; instead of terminating in the formidable dertrum to 

 which we are accustomed in the pictures * of the Saverys and that of Goeimare (Trans. 

 Zool. Soc. iv. p. 197), its tip is rounded off, as if it had undergone the operation known 

 among falconers as " coping." Now I cannot help thinking that in this point we have 

 some grounds for believing that the subject of the figure must have been a bird kept in 

 capti^dty. The Dodo was no doubt able with its powerfully-hooked beak to inflict very 

 serious injury ; and it is not at all improbable (so it seems to me) that the keeper of 

 such a bird would consult his o^vn safety, and, by trimming an off'ensive weapon so 

 likely to be used against him, deprive it of the means of doing harm. On this account, 

 therefore, I think there seems to be a strong probability of this drawing having been 

 taken from a living subject which had been brought to Europe and kept in some 

 aviary. It is further to be remarked that the inside of the Dodo's mouth in this 

 drawing is coloured of a bright red, and a red ring is seen surrounding the eye, though 

 whether this be intended for the iris or an orbit it is not so easy to say. I believe that 

 all the pictures of Bidus ineptus concur in representing the iris of that species to be 

 yellow. 



And now as to the artist by whom this drawing was executed. In its left hand 



corner are to be plainly seen the letters fp'.VlfH'- and on consulting Brulliot's 



' Dictionnaire des Monogrammes ' I find (p. 321, Nouv. Ed. Sec. Partie. Munich: 1833) 

 that this is the signature of Pierke Witthoos, " qui peignait a la gouache des fleurs, 

 des insectes, et des plantes avcc beaucoup d'art et de verite," and who died at Amster- 

 dam in 1G93. It is tlierefore quite possible that the figure I have before mentioned in 

 Zaagman's edition of Bontekoe, published, according to Strickland, shortly after the 



* Professor Schlegel has already suggested that the picture of the Dodo iu the British Museum was drawn 

 from a bird the beak of which had become unnaturally elongated in cajitivity (Yerslag. on Jlededeel. der Kon, 

 Akad. van Wetensch. 1854, p. 237, note). 



