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DODO . — Didus ineplus. 
The celebrated Dodo, once so common in the Mauritius, where it was dis- 
covered, is now considered to be wholly extinct, no living specimen having been 
known for very many years, and not even a stuffed skin being in existence. 
There are some relics of this bird, such as the head and a part of the jaw, and 
some similar specimens at the British Museum, but, excepting these, and one or 
two pictures, the Dodo has vanished from the visible world. 
So plentiful were the Dodos at one time, and so easily were they killed, that 
the sailors were in the habit of slaying the birds merely for the sake of the stones 
in their stomachs, these being found very efficacious in sharpening their clasp- 
knives. The nest of the Dodo was a mere heap of fallen leaves gathered together 
on the ground, and the bird laid but one large egg. The weight of one full 
grown Dodo was said to be between forty and fifty pounds. 
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