1864.] 



Notes on the Didunculus Strigirostris. 



373 



Notes on the Didunculus Strigirostris, or Tooth-Billed Pigeon of the 



Navigator Islands — the nearest living Ally to the extinct Dodo. 



Communicated by Sir W. Denison.* 



[Received Wh Bee., 1863,] 



Many of your readers, and especially those interested in natural 

 history, will be glad to hear that the long lost tooth-billed pigeon, 

 Didunculus strigirostris, is not quite extinct, as is generally supposed. 

 This fact is now satisfactorily proved by a living specimen having 

 been brought up to this city [Sydney] by Mr. J. C. Williams, H. B. M. 

 Consul for the Navigator Islands, from Upolo, one of that group. 



It will be needless to enlarge upon the great service thus rendered 

 by Mr. Williams. Let it suffice to say that it is the only living 

 specimen which has ever come under scientific notice, and in all pro- 

 bability will remain so. Scientific societies, both in England and 

 Europe, have offered large rewards for this interesting bird, but it is 

 to be hoped that if our Acclimatisation Society does purchase this 

 bird, it will not share the fate of other rare specimens, and be sent out 

 of the colony. 



Mr. Williams has kindly allowed me to examine his specimen, which 

 is still in Sydney ; and has given me the following information respect- 

 ing its habits, of which nothing has been previously made known. 



The didunculus, or gnathodon, is known by the natives of the 

 Navigator's under the name of the manu-mea. It was at one time 

 very plentiful on those islands, and particularly upon Upolo, where 

 Mr. Williams obtained his specimen ; but owing to the number of cats 

 which, having become wild, now infest the islands, this peculiar bird 

 has become almost extinct. The natives also ha^e had a share in its 

 destruction, for as long as the birds could be procured in tolerable 

 numbers, they were in the habit of making annual excursions into the 

 mountains for the sole purpose of catching and feasting upon them. 

 The game was secured either with bird-lime, made by mixing the 

 sticky gum of the bread-fruit tree with oil, or by means of nets fasten* 

 ed to the end of long light poles and thrown over their victims, which 

 were enticed within reach by tame decoy-birds kept for this purpose. 



* These notes, apparently by Mr. Eamsay, Sir W. Denison's correspondent 

 E a P rmted extoct fr0 *» * ST*** newspaper, and a M$Z^T f 



