Birch. 2259 



these eggs are easily brought to their original colour by being laid in hot water and 

 then rubbed with a cloth, so that it could be easily proved by trying one of these eggs ; 

 but Mr. Newton says, that " except in size, shape and the high polish, they do not at 

 all resemble the eggs commonly laid by that bird, being blotched and spotted with 

 reddish brown and tawny yellow, so as to be something like those of the common quail, 

 or that of the Baillon's crake, as figured in Hewitson's Illustrations." Now if this 

 variety had been occasioned by the way I supposed, the polish would have been very 

 much diminished. I should much like to know whether the eggs were originally the 

 same colour as that mentioned ; if so, there must be something as yet unknown which 

 should cause the eggs of this bird and others very often to differ from their original 

 colour. — P. E. Hansell ; Thorpe, near Norwich, Norfolk, September 4, 1848. 



Occurrence of Temminck's Stint (Tringa Temminckii) near Penzance. — A speci- 

 men of this small Tringa was shot in a marsh between Marazion and Penzance, on 

 Monday, the 28th ultimo, by Mr. W. H. Vingoe. Independently of the shorter tar- 

 sus, the winter plumage of this bird is distinguished from that of the Tringa minuta 

 by a more general prevalence of dusky brown on the upper parts, the centres of the 

 dorsal feathers being lighter, with the borders having a narrower and darker circle of 

 paler colour than the little stint. The habits of the bird are also much wilder and 

 more shy than its congener. Several redshanks and a green sandpiper were also ob- 

 served in the same locality, together with about ten couple of snipes. — Edward Hearle 

 Rodd ; Penzance, September 7, 1848. 



The Dodo and its Kindred.* 



In years that are gone we used to believe most devoutly in the existence of the 

 dodo ; we used to read, with unquestioning faith, in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' 

 and other works of like authority, full descriptions of the shape, weight and colour of 

 various species of Didus,f detailed particulars of the materials of which their nests 

 were constructed, of the size and colour and number of their eggs, and of the number 

 of days required for incubation. By degrees, however, certain naturalists, who want 

 to know the rights of everything, pried somewhat inquisitively into dodo-history, and 

 the result was, that nest, eggs, colours, and all, fell av/ay one by one, and we were left 

 with marvellously little information concerning these marvellous birds ; in fact some 

 naturalists even went so far as to assert that the dodo itself was a sham and a cheat, 

 and that the only existing fragments said to have been once the property of a living 

 dodo — namely, the head and foot in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and the foot 

 in the British Museum — belonged respectively to different birds ; the head to a vul- 

 ture, the feet to some gallinaceous bird. The pertinaciously inquisitive spirit to which 



* 'The Dodo and its Kindred, or the History, Affinities and Osteology of the 

 Dodo, Solitaire, and other Extinct Birds of the Islands of Mauritius, Rodriguez and 

 Bourbon. By H. E. Strickland, M.A., F.G.S., F.R.G.S, and A. G. Melville, 

 M.D. Edin., M.R.C.S.' London : Reeve, Benham & Reeve. 1848. 



f The dodo is the Didus ineptus of authors. 



