President's Address. 103 



the largest of all the Heron tribe/' 1 as well as to the "Argus 

 Pheasant, from Sumatra, the Black or Crested Curasso-bird, 

 the Shining- African Thrush, and the Long-shafted Goat- 

 sucker from Sierra Leone.'' 



" Some Birds," says the guide-book, " on account of their 

 inconvenient size, could not be admitted into the general 

 assortment ; of these the most remarkable is the Cassowary, 

 an Indian Bird, which some ornithologists place among the 

 Grallce, others among the Gallince, and others in a particular 

 division distinct from both/" 



There were also curious nests, etc., in two table-cases, one 

 containing the " hanging-nests, chiefly formed by Birds of 

 the Oriole tribe," as well as nests of the Edible Swifts and 

 Taylor-birds, with feathers of the Condor, the leg of a Dodo 

 in a glass, etc. " The second case contained eggs of the 

 Ostrich, Cassowary, Crocodile, etc." 



Another interesting exhibit was mentioned. In his account 

 of the Dodo in the c Dictionary of Birds,' Professor Newton 

 refers to the large picture of the Dodo in the British Museum 

 as being formerly in the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and 

 supposed to be the work of Roelandt Savery, who was born 

 àt Courtray in 1576, and died in 1639. It was always 

 understood that his pictures had been drawn from the life. 

 " Proof, however, of the limning of a living Dodo in Holland 

 at that period had hitherto been wanting. There can now 

 be no longer any doubt of the fact ; and the paintings by 

 this artist of the Dodo at Berlin and Vienna dated respec- 

 tively 1626 and 1628, as well as the picture by G-oiemare, 

 belonging to the Duke of Northumberland, at Sion House, 

 dated 1627, may be, with greater plausibility than ever, 

 considered portraits of a captive bird." Professor Newton 

 also believes it possible that a living bird may have existed in 

 the vivarium of the Emperor Eudolf IL, of Austria, and have 

 formed the subject of sketches by artists of the time. 



It is in connection with the painting in the Museum that 

 the following account of it in the ' Synopsis,' of 1808, 

 becomes of interest : " We must not omit a curious picture, 

 executed long ago in Holland, of that extremely rare and 

 curious bird the Dodo, belonging to the tribe Gallince, and a 



