ON THE EXTINCT 

 BIRDS OF THE MASCARENE ISLANDS. 



By Mr. G. D. ROWLEY. 

 (Plates LII. & LIIL) 



DIDUS INEPTUS. (The Do Do.) 



Sitting in a room hung round with portraits of the bird in every direction 

 that I turn my eyes, backed up by its bones, can I be blamed for having a 

 fit of the Do Dos ? 



Perhaps some one will inquire, in the language of ' The Times/ " What 

 can be said on a text the matter of which, originally thin, has been beaten 

 out to such tenuity as to have become almost transparent? " 



The subject indeed is well worn. Nevertheless the interest is great; 

 for nothing ever clothed in feathers, either living or extinct, has so generally 

 and universally occupied the minds of men as the species in question. If you 

 talk to people of size, they immediately say "Was it as big as a Do Do ? " 

 if of antiquity, '' What ! as old as the Do Do .? " and so on ; at least, that is 

 my experience of the non-ornithological world. 



In short, next to the Roc (to whose dreaded name even the purses of 

 one hundred sequins, which Sinbad, that liberal sailor, gave to Hinbad for 

 Hstening to his tales, could not reconcile me), the Do Do is the most badly 

 used bird in existence by some persons. 



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