95 
pounds, very fat, and possessing a melancholy look. The portion of this bird now 
extant in the Oxford Museum came from the collection of Tradiscant, where it 
had existed prior to 1681. The bird was even intact in 1700 ; in 1755 the com¬ 
mittee threw the greater part away, merely retaining the head and two feet. The 
oil portrait in the British Museum appears to have been painted in Holland, from 
a living specimen brought from the Mauritius. Collecting all the facts relating 
to this bird in original documents, it may be concluded that the Dodo is a 
massive bird, very large, not at all graceful, with short feet, and thick legs; 
the body oval, somewhat resembling that of a large Duck whose posterior part 
is not pointed ; the neck is thick, short, and curved in the form of an S. The 
head is very large, particularly the beak ; the tongue appears pointed, the leg is 
feathered to the knee: the toes are four in number, short, thick, and armed with 
strong nails, without any trace of interdigital membrane. The back is of a black 
colour, the head greenish gray; the feathers of the wings of the tail are white. 
But little is known of its habits, it appears to have possessed no powers of flight, 
and the stones found in its gizzard lead to a conclusion that it is graminivorous. 
With respect to its place in an ornithological series, ancient writers placed it 
near to the Swan, or the Echassiers. Temminck places it, as a genus of a parti¬ 
cular order, after the series of birds ; Me Leay approximates it to the Gallinacece , 
and, on account of its short wings, it has also been classed with the Ostriches. 
De Blainville combats all the opinions of previous writers, and finishes by con¬ 
cluding that it is more nearly related to the birds of prey than any other order; 
adding also that he is by no means satisfied that this bird has positively become 
extinct ; and so little being hitherto known of the natural productions of the Mau¬ 
ritius, it is hoped some traces may yet be discovered to throw a further light on 
the history of this most singular bird. 
2.—M. de la Saussaye, secretary to the next scientific congress of France, 
which is to be held at Blois, on the 11th of Sept, next, has published a programme 
of questions relative to history and natural sciences; among them are many of 
high interest to the antiquary and naturalist. One of these is to determine the 
precise spot mentioned by Caesar as the site of the great annual meeting of the 
Druids, and to examine if those places in which the greater number of Druidical 
monuments are to be found are not also those in which Christianity first founded 
its religious establishments. Another question of general importance is, to give 
the rise and progress of printing in the different localities of France. In agricul¬ 
ture—to examine the origin of the diseases in wheat, their effect on the animal 
economy, and their best mode of cure. In natural science—to determine whether 
it is not possible to create a mineralogical classification presenting the advantages 
resulting from the natural methods followed in zoology and botany. To pronounce 
if there exists among animals a primitive type in which all the creations of that 
