350 Tlie Didunculus, or Little Dodo. 



last arrival ; from this I am inclined to think they may prove 

 male and female." 



Of these two specimens one unfortunately died at Sydney ; 

 the other has arrived in safety at the gardens. This specimen 

 is a female ; it laid an egg on the voyage. This had been for- 

 tunately placed on a shelf, and was rescued from destruction 

 by Mr. Bartlett ; the egg is white in colour, and is about the 

 size and form of that of a large variety of domestic pigeon. 



The most striking peculiarity in the appearance of the Di- 

 dunculus is the maxilla and great width of the lower-toothed 

 mandible. This width of lower jaw is characteristic of whole 

 groups of pigeons, and is intimately connected with the manner 

 in which they nourish their young. 



Both male and female, as is generally known, take part in 

 the process of incubation. At the time when the young — two 

 in number — are hatched, a peculiar secretion of curdy substance 

 is formed in the crop of the parents. This is disgorged into 

 the mouth of the young-, and they are fed solely on this soft 

 food for several days. The young are hatched in a very imper- 

 fect condition, and they receive this soft curdy food (which 

 may be appropriately termed " pigeon's milk") by placing the 

 beak nearly up to their eyes in that of the old one, and almost 

 at right angles to it ; so that the food disgorged by the parent 

 is received into the expanded spoon-shaped lower mandible of 

 the young. From this mode of feeding the young being uni- 

 versal in the pigeons, all, of necessity, have the expanded 

 mandible, which hence becomes one of the best marked external 

 characters of the group. 



That these facts, simple as they are, are not universally 

 known to naturalists, is evidenced by the fact that so good a 

 naturalist as the late Mr. Yarrell, in his valuable treatise on 

 British Birds, describes the old pigeons as feeding, their off- 

 spring by placing their beaks in the mouths of the youug 



(Hies. 



The loss of the male Didunculus is deeply to be regretted; 

 .•is, before the final extirpation of the last of tho Didime, it 

 would have been exceedingly desirable to ascertain the exact 

 circumstances <>i' their incubation and mode of rearing their 

 young, Wind labour would naturalists of the present day not 

 undergo, in order to sec the unwieldy Dodo pumping up its 



soft food into the jaws of its young (!) Not having the Dodo, 



however, it )>e!io\es us lo t;ike the more trouble to ascertain 



the structure, habits, and food of its living congener, the 

 Didunculus. 



