334 
GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. 
[PAET IV. 
The DidvMGulus stigirostris , a hook-billed ground-pigeon, 
found only in the Samoa Islands, is so peculiar in its structure 
that it is considered to form a distinct family. 
Family 85. — DIDIDvE. — (2 Genera, 3 Species.) 
General Distribution. 
Neotropical 
Sub-regions. 
N EARCTIC 
Sub-regions. 
P ALA! ARCTIC 
Sub-regions. 
Ethiopian 
Sub-regions. 
Oriental 
Sub-regions. 
I Australian 
Sub-regions. 
1 
1 
The birds which constitute this family are now all extinct ; 
but as numerous drawings are in existence, taken from living 
birds some of which were exhibited in Europe, and a stuffed 
specimen, fragments of which still remain, was in the Ashmolean 
Museum at Oxford down to 1755, they must be classed among 
recent, as opposed to geologically extinct species. The Dodo 
(. Didus ineptus) a large, unwieldy, flightless bird, inhabited 
Mauritius down to the latter part of the 17 th century ; and an 
allied form, the Solitaire ( Pezophaps solitaria ), was found only 
in the island of Rodriguez, where it survived about a century 
later. Old voyagers mention a Dodo also in Bourbon, and a 
rude figure of it exists ; but no remains of this bird have been 
found. Almost complete skeletons of the Dodo and Solitaire 
have, however, been recovered from the swamps of Mauritius and 
the caves of Rodriguez, proving that they were both extremely 
modified forms of pigeon. These large birds were formerly very 
abundant, and being excellent eating and readily captured, the 
early voyagers to these islands used them largely for food. As they 
could be caught by man, and very easily by dogs, they were soon 
greatly diminished in numbers ; and the introduction of swine, 
which ran wild in the forests and fed on the eggs and. young 
birds, completed their extermination. 
The existence in the Mascarene Islands of a group of such 
remarkable terrestrial birds, with aborted wings, is parallel to 
that of the Apteryx and Dinornis in New Zealand, the Casso- 
waries of Austro-Malava, and the short-winged Rails of New 
