13 
and Gallinaceous birds. It is well known that the turkeys in America come down to 
the shore and feed upon the ‘fiddler’ crabs; and there would be nothing extraordinary 
in a quisquilious feeder, such as the Dodo probably was, varying its fruit and vegetable 
diet occasionally by resorting to such animal substances as it might find on the strand. 
Common poultry eagerly pick up insects and slugs in the fields, and, in the neighbour- 
hood of tidal rivers and estuaries, may be seen availing themselves of the smaller 
mollusca and Crustacea left by the retreating tide. 
“In my article ‘ Struthionidse*’ under the section ‘Didus,’ is inserted the follow ing 
extract from a letter written to me by Professor Owen ; — 
“ ‘ Whilst at the Hague in the summer of 1848, I was much struck with the minute- 
ness and accuracy with which the exotic species of animals had been painted by Savery 
and Breughel, in such subjects as Paradise, Orpheus charming the beasts. See., in which 
scope was allowed for grouping together a great variety of animals. Understanding 
that the celebrated menagerie of Prince Maurice had atforded the living models to those 
artists, I sat down one day before Savory’s Orpheus and the beasts, to make a list of the 
species, which the picture evinced that the artist had had the opportunity to study 
alive. Judge of my surprise and pleasure in detecting in a dark corner of the picture 
(which is badly hung between two windows), the Dodo beautifully finished, showing for 
example, though but three inches long, the auricular circle of feathers, the scutation of 
the tarsi, and the loose structure of the caudal plumes. In the number and proportions 
of the toes and in general form, it accords with Edwards’s oil-painting in the British 
Museum ; and I conclude that the miniature must have been copied from the study of 
a living bird, which, it is most probable, formed part of the Mauritian menagerie.’ 
“ I little thought, when, with his permission, I published this graphic product of my 
kind friend’s pen, what was in store for me. Not long afterwards, a friend informed me 
that he had seen a picture at a dealer’s painted by one of the Saverys, and that he was 
pretty sure there was a Dodo in one corner of it. I sent for the picture, and there, 
sure enough, in the right-hand corner, and consequently to the left of the spectator, was 
the bird, in all the beauty of its ugliness. The Dodo stands on one foot with its back 
to the spectator, and turning round its head, which is represented with the huge bill 
picking the other uplifted foot. Like all the rest of the birds in this picture, which 
bears the name of Boland Savery, the Dodo is highly finished. The picture is now in 
my possession^.” 
The figure 2 in Plate I. is a faithful copy of the bird as represented in it. 
Whilst on a visit to Sion House I was unexpectedly gratified by finding, in a small 
oil-painting in the long gallery, an unequivocal and original representation of the 
Dodo, in an attitude different from that of any of the figures of the living bird by 
Boland Savery, and evidently by another master. I lost no time in communicating 
“ ' Penny Cyclopsedia, vol. xxiii. (1842).” 
^ Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, vol. iv. part vi. p. 183. 
