80 
REPORT—1847. 
specif of brevipennate birds, all of which were speedily destroyed br the tub 
colonists. Mauritius was the birth-place of the Dodo, the first notice of which wis 
not, as erroneously stated, by \’asco de Gama (who never visited Mauritius}, both 
Van Neck, a Dutchman, in 1598. Several successive vovagers mentioned 
down to Gauche in 1038, and in the latter year a live spcciniea was brouflit toha- 
and was described by Sir Humon Lcstrange. ThejrtV/orin/eridwcefRtftti^ 
the Dodo consists of four citl-paintings;—one in the British Museum without 4e 
artists name, one at the Hague, another at Berlin by Boland Saven, andiffl 
at Oifunl by John Saverj' hiu nephew. All these are c-viilently from onedap. 
and may have been drawn from n specimen which Van Neck brought tolfoihiil- 
The os/eofopira/ evitltnces of tho Dodo consist of the foot in the IJritidi .\Ius«iB,4f 
head and toot at Oxford, and u head lately discovered at Copenhaera. The thm 
fnriner specimens were exhibited, and a cast of tlie latter had also been sect for lie 
mw-tiiif, but was detained by the vexatious formalities of the Londou CbIob- 
house. 
Hie Oxford^ head and foot have been recently dissected, and froM the danws 
joa exnoi^ed it Is certain that the Dodo was not related either to thcgalliiwws 
tr s, the nsti’ichea, or the vultures, as otliurs have conjecturetl, Imt iscloeelyilW 
o he pigeons. With the exception of Us short wings, It approaches 
frons 01 fruit-pigeons, and still more to the Dii/unculiat, a kind of pigcM ^ Ik* 
^.anioan Isuinds, of which the only specimen in Europe was exhibit^ at teenw** 
*«K. I he author supposed that the Dodo fed uiicm the cocoa-nuts, mangw, •ad 
other fruits which m tropical forests fall from the trees at all seasons of tee rear. 
1 he lecturer then drew attention to the island of Rodriguez, visited in I6?I kf 
c°»-gtven a dpscription and figure of a brevipennate bifdwlucfiin 
rm! tnc Aa/i/fiire Several bones of this bird from the museums of Par» 
*.^^*°* a comparison of them with those of tlie Dadodwit 
"o allied but distinct species, longer legged duo lb* 
It to the pigeons. It was next shown from the awrit w*^ 
island of Bourbon was also formerly inliabicai byW 
litalrfl birds, of the same abnonnnl group as the Dodo and the&>■ 
bon hnr V osseous remains of these birds fromB*^ 
that* ^ I'k*^ doubttc4.3 be procured from the caves and alluvial de]x»i»irf 
t.ml Lrihi: 7 researches in Mauritiu-s and Rodiignez the eDtt«»b;f 
ion t>;. family of extinct birds might he twon-ftructed. fa ««-<; 
PaH« f*‘» obligutions tn the directori of the public 
l>oiki’auif Glasgow and Oxford, who had contributed toaejoffl* 
In ^ Jlii "^hlbitiou to the meeting, 
external ami Im,. li- K. Strickland pointed out the various chara^- 
Columbida an^ f prove the Dodo to be an aberrant genus of the hn • 
wea* chieflv *1? connexion whatever witli the Vultures. His artiu®'^ 
of the iialatin 'h f^rm of the beak, the position of the nostrils, the l-*”^ 
for h XT‘ ^ and of the zygomatic bones, the 
po«,^riar mctatfli^i** 'if structure of the calcaneal processes, * 
thr^ToVTVr^ ^-losely agree with the Pigeons, and espcdaJh' 
Oh Atlduions to the Fauna of Ireland. By WilliA-M Tiroursos. 
tebrale^Mlrnau'^* brought forward were about fifty in number, chiefly 
Kupiiell ’i'iic. fiati ^ ^*^re Crer BwiVIohI, ,Sierna/wicoparew and 
Senerfe f.wm nr S.. the .\rgentine, sLprlu. borfcdis. 
■diyinai Tmaia the genera Qpis. yliiony-f, 
BritUh *009 w..rp ?/'*! , l^rnaopoda, hitherto unrecorded, as found a* 
Ireland*. * *t*^ted to have been obtained by the author on the W*®* 
Annal, *rfN«SlSto!y'^p*2y7^^®‘*“ Published in detail in the 20th ' ' 
