98 
ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 
end of the sixteenth century j and the subjects of them were, with equal 
probability, living in the vivarium of the then Emperor Rudolf II. The 
picture of Didus, admirably reproduced in colours, differs in many respects 
from those hitherto known, the bird being represented of a sooty-brown 
colour nearly all over, with comparatively long remiges. [Cf. Ibis, 1808, 
pp. 480, 481.] 
Jasckel, a. J. Eino alte Abbildung des Dronte. Zoolog. Garten, 1808, 
pp. 85-87. 
The picture, of which a woodcut is given, is by Roelandt Savery, and is 
now at Pommersfelden, near Bamberg. ICf. Ibis, 1808, pp. 478, 479.] 
Millies, H. C. Over eene nieuw ontdekte Af beelding van den Dodo {Didus 
imptuSf L.). Amsterdam : 1808. 4to, pp. 20. Reprinted from Verb, 
k. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam, xi. 
The figure, of which a facsimile is given, was found in a copy of Clusius’s 
^Exot. Libr. X.’ in the High School of Utrecht, and is by Adriaan van de 
Venne, who died in 1005. Above it is a statement of its having been 
drawn at Amsterdam from the life in 1020. The author gives an abstract 
of the history of the bird, and treats of the derivation of its various names, 
besides furnishing some other interesting information. In 1047 a live Dodo 
was sent to Japan by the Governor of Batavia. Dr. Willigen, of Haarlem, 
possesses a coloured representation of the species, ascribed to Pieter Hol- 
steyn, but would not allow it to be copied. Another figure, in a bird- 
book,” by the same artist, also exists in Holland, but the author has not 
seen it. '{Cf. Ibis, 1808, p. 477, 478.] 
Newton, Alfred. On a Picture supposed to represent the Didine Bird of 
the Island of Bourbon (Reunion). Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. pp. 873-370, 
pi. 02. 
The picture the subject of this paper has been twice before mentioned in 
this annual (Zool. Rec. iii. pp. 100, 107, iv. p. 114). It is in water-colours, 
and bears the monogram of Pierre Witthoos, who died in 1098. It appears 
to have been drawn from life, and represents a bird in general shape not 
unlike the true Didus inejdus, but white, with some admixture of yellow, 
and having the four first remiges directed downwards and forwards. These 
characters are shown to agTee with those of the Bourbon bird, as described 
and figured by old voyagers and the author hence infers that this picture 
represents that species rathpr than the Mauritian one. There is a difficulty, 
however, which must not be neglected, in the way of this view j one of the 
eye-witnesses (Du Bois) says that the ^‘Solitaire” of Bourbon had a ‘^becq 
fait comme celuy des Jiecasscs,” which is very unlike that represented here. 
A coloured copy of the picture is given. 
Newton, Alfred and Edward. On the Osteology of the Solitaire or 
Didine Bird of the Island of Rodriguez, Pezophaps solitaria (Gmel.). 
(Abstract) Proc. Roy. Soc. 11 June, 18G8, vol. xvi. pp. 428-433. Re- 
printed Ann. & Mag. N. H. 4th ser. ii. pp. 159-165. 
This paper, intended to appear at full length in the ^ Philosophical Trans- 
actions,’ is founded on the remains before mentioned (Zool. Roc. ii. p. 124, 
iv. p. 114). They were discovered in caves at Rodriguez in 1800, and are 
about 2000 in number, including almost all the most important parts of the 
skeleton. This vast series shows that there was a very great amount of indi- 
