THE 



LEG OF A DODO. 



In a preceding number of the prefent work I have 

 given a defcription, accompanied by a figure accu- 

 rately copied from an original picture faid to have been 

 taken from nature, of that jnoft fingular bird called 

 the Dodo : an animal fo very rare, and of an appear- 

 ance fo uncouth, as to have given rife to fome doubts 

 as to its real exiftence ; which was alfo rendered ftill 

 more fufpicious from the fuppofed want of any remains 

 of the bird itfelf in the mufeums of Europe. A very 

 ftiort time fince however, on curforily examining feveral 

 mifcellaneous articles in one of the apartments of the 

 Britiih Mufeum, in company with that very ingenious 

 artift Mr. Reinagle jun r , we had the good fortune to 

 difcover a leg, which even at firft view appeared of 

 fo peculiar an afpedf. that it inftantly fuggefted the idea 

 of the bird in queftion. On farther examination it was 

 ftill lefs to be doubted that it mufl really have belonged 

 to that curious bird ; and on collating it with the de- 

 scription given by Grew in his Mufeum RegalisSoci* 

 etatis, it agreed in all points with the meafurements 

 there particularized. 1 therefore accompany the figure, 

 here given, which is reprefented of the natural fize, 

 with the defcription from the above work of Grew, 

 and it is with peculiar plea l ure that I embrace the op- 

 portunity of presenting my readers with fo interefTing 

 a curiofity. 



" The 



