THE DODO, ETC. 
These are metatarsal bones, and confirm Mr, Strickland’s views 
of the affinity of the Dodo to the Pigeons, by supplying some parts 
which were wanting in the specimens figured in the “ Dodo and its 
Kindred.” 
Mr. Sclater, on his recent return from the continent, writes to 
Mr. Strickland: —‘‘ In the Boéhmischen Museum at Prague, there 
is the veritable skull of the Dodo; that is, all the frontal portion, 
just as much as we would leave in preserving a skin.” M. Max. 
Dormitzer, assistant to the museum, stated, “that it was found 
among some rubbish, and that it was a long time before they made 
out what it was.” 
Mr. Strickland states (p. 61, Dodo and its Kindred), that Fla- 
court, in his History of the Island of Madagascar, had mentioned 
the circumstance that a large brevipennate bird, Vouron patra, “a 
kind of Ostrich, frequented the region of Ampatres, a province in 
the south extremity of Madagascar.” That this may still exist in 
the interior, is probable from the reports recently received; and its 
ancient existence bears authority both from the information sent. by 
Mr. Surtees, and from the paragraph alluded to from the Mauri- 
tian Gazette, The first, communicated by F. R. Surtees, Esq., 
Her Majesty’s Commissioner of Arbitration at the Cape of Good 
Hope, is as follows : — “It appears, that in October, 1848, when 
- M.S. Geyser was cruising off St. Augustine’s Bay, Madagascar, 
« French gentleman, named Dumarecle, who was a passenger on 
board, gave the following account, which is extracted from the 
Private journal of Mr. John Joliffe, surgeon of the Geyser :— 
After giving an account of some curious monkeys, with white 
shining silvery hair, M. Dumarecle casually mentioned, that some 
time previously, when in command of his own vessel, trading along 
the coast of Madagascar, he saw, at Fort Leyen, on the north-west 
*nd of the island, the shell of an enormous egg, the production of 
i mknown, bird inhabiting the wilds of the country, which held 
SF hae incredible quantity of thirteen wine quart bottles of 
a is he haying himself carefully measured the quantity. It was 
*: Ar colour and appearance of an Ostrich egg, and the substance 
age shell was about the thickness of a Spanish dollar, and very 
ae: im texture. It was brought on board by the natives, the 
ae of ‘Sakalayas,’ to be filled with rum, haying a tolerably large 
i one end, through which the contents of the egg had been 
