41 
the most remarkable Is the cassowary, an Indian 
bird; which some ornithologists place among the 
Grallae, others among the Gallinae, and others in 
a particular division distinct from both. 
We must not omit a curious picture, executed 
long ago in Holland, of that extremely rare and 
curious bird the Dodo, belonging to the tribe 
Gallinse, and a native of the island of Bourbon. 
The picture was taken from a living specimen, 
brought into Holland soon after the discovery of 
the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of 
Good Hope, by the Portuguese. It was once the 
property of Sir Hans Sloane, and afterwards of 
the celebrated ornitholigist George Edwards, who 
presented it to the British Museum. 
In this Table are preserved the nests of various 
birds, amongst the most curious of which are se¬ 
veral hanging-nests, chiefly formed by birds of 
the oriole tribe ; nests of a small species of Asia¬ 
tic swallow’, resembling isinglass in substance, 
and considered as a great delicacy by the Chinese, 
who use it in preparing a rich soup called bird- 
nest soup ; two nests of a small bird called the 
taylor-bird, composed of leaves sewed together ; 
bills of various rare birds, of which the most 
remarkable are several kinds of rhinoceros bird’s 
bills ; quills ; feathers of the great Sguth Ame- 
l 2 ri^an 
ROOM XI. 
Nat. Hist. 
TABLE 
1 . 
