A notice of Saver/s Dodo-picture in the Belvedere at Vienna (see p. 30 supra) is given in the Archiv
für Naturgeschichte, for 1848, p. 79, by Dr.L. J. Fitzinger, who there states that he has long known this
interesting painting, and was on the point of publishing a fac-simile of it, when, hearing that this work
was in course of preparation, he courteously resigned his intention, and contented himself with publishing
a brief notice of its existence. He states that this picture measures sixteen by twenty-two inches, and repre^
sents an ideal landscape with the fore-ground crowded with birds, some on land, and some in the water,
all of which are accurately designed.
Five weeks had elapsed since the last sheets of Part I. had gone to press, when, on May 16th, 1848,
I received (through the kindness of my friend and former fellow-traveller, .Mr. W. J. Hamilton, P.R.G.S.)
a pamphlet by . Dr. Hamel, entitled “ Der Dodo, die Einsiedler, und der erdichtete Nazarvogel.” I .am
thus exact as to dates, in order that the, similarity between many of Dr. Hamel’s inferences and my own
may be attributed, not to plagiarism, but to the Unity which characterizes Truth. This memoir was read
before the Petersburg Academy on January 9th, 1846, but has only just been published in the Bulletin
Phys.-math. Acad. St. Petersb. vol. vii. no. 5, 6. Dr. Hamel here gives a resumé of the historical and
pictorial evidences respecting the Dodo and Solitaire, as far as he had ascertained them, but he leaves
untouched the question of their affinities, and too often omits to' indicate the original sources of his
information. As I have already discussed most of the details contained in this treatise, I , need only refer
to two.or three points which had escaped my notice.
The diligent researches of Dr. Hamel appear to have added nothing to the historical evidence which
is recorded above. The only work mentioned by him which. I had failed to consult is the Journal of
Paul van Soldt, for which I had sought in the libraries of Oxford and London without success. This,
however, is merely another version of the account of Van der Hagen’s Voyage, and does not add to the
information respecting it given at p. 17 supra.
Dr. H. has judiciously remarked that from an obscurity of expression in the earliest account of
Van Neck’s Voyage, the Dodo was described by translators and subsequent compilers as having the wings
blackish and the tail grey. But we know from the coloured paintings that the whole bird was greyish, and the
wings and tail yellowish. (See Plates I., III.) This error was corrected by Matelief (p. 17 supra), who
stated the plumage to be grey, and by Verhuffen (or rather his officer and journalist Verkens), in whose
narrative (p. 18 supra) it is added that the wing feathers were yellow.
Dr. Hamel has shewn the probability that the island, or bank, of Nazareth (see p. 21 supra) has no
more existence than the Didus naza/renus to which it gave a name. I must therefore apologize to geographers
for having introduced this vigia into the chart of the Indo-African Ocean at p. 6, which was
copied from Mr. Arrowsmith’s map of the world, published in 1842.
Thé Géans of Leguat, which 1 have referred to Flamingos (p. 60 supra), are by Dr. Hamel conjectured to
be Struthious birds, which, like the Solitaire, have become extinct since the days of Leguat. On re-perusing
Leguafs text, however, it does not appear to me that the discrepancies between his Géarn and the Flamingo
are so great as to justify this conclusion. ■ . .
After quoting Leguat’s account of the Solitaire, Dr. Hamel tells qs .the following anecdote. The
French astronomer Pingré visited Rodriguez in 1761, to observe the famous transit of Venus, which was
the occasion of many similar expeditions. To commemorate this circumstance Le Mounier proposed to
place the Solitaire among the constellations, but being a better astronomer than ornithologist, he inadvertently
gave this honour, not to the Didine bird of Rodriguez, but to the Solitary Thrush of the
Philippines (Montícola eremita), figured by Brisson, vol. ii. pi. 28. f. 1, instead of copying Leguat’s figure
as he might have done., (See Mémoires de l’Académie, 1776, p. 562, pl. 17.) It is worth the consideration
of astronomers whether the imaginary outline of this constellation might not be so altered as to
restore to Leguat’s Solitaire the honours which are its due.1
In connection with Pingré’s visit, Dr. Hamel adds the following judicious suggestion :—“ We know
the spot in Rodriguez where Leguat and his companions resided for two years. It appears that Pingré also
lived there in 1760 and 1761, and conducted his astronomical observations, for he says (Hist, de l’Acad. 1761,
p. 108, and Mémoires, p. 415) that the place was called f Enfoncement de François Leguat.’ 2 In Leguat’s
map the place is accurately indicated where the common kitchen of the settlers stood, and where the great
tree grew, under which they used to sit on a bench to take then: meals. The tree and bench are introduced
in the map. At these two spots it is probable that the bones for a complete skeleton of Leguat’s Solitaire
might be collected; those of the head and feet on the site of the kitchen, and the sternum and other bones
on that of the tree.”
I have next to notice a memoir by Professor Owen, just published in the Transactions of the Zoological
Society, vol. iij.?’ p. 345, on the remains of Dmornis, Dalapteryx, Notomis, and Nestor, discovered by
Mr. W. Mantell in New Zealand. In this paper Professor Owen has availed himself of the recent dissection
of the Dodo’s head, to carry on the comparison of that bird with the Dmornis, which he had commenced
(in regard to the leg bones) in 1846.' He further remarks : “With respect to the Dodo, the idea entertained
by Dr. Reinhardt and by Mr. Gould8 of its affinity to the Columbida, was supported by new arguments
adduced by Mr. Strickland in his elaborate and interesting communications and lecture before the British
Association at Oxford (June, 1847).”
This quotation contains a slight inaccuracy which I must be allowed 'to correct. In regard to
Professor Reinhardt, I have already (at p. 40 supra) acknowledged the originality of his idea as to the
affinity between the Dodo and the Col/umbidce, but there is no trace of this idea in any of Mr. Gould’s
published writings. It is true that in his account of the Gnatlwdon, published March 1st, 1846 (see p. 40
supra), Mr. G. was the first to assert its affinity to the Pigeons, and he at the same time incidentally adds
that the form of the beak and nostrils “ strongly remind one of the celebrated Dodo;” a remark to which
he was guided by a sentence which he quotes from my Report on Ornithology (British Association Reports,
1844, p. :I89), stating that Mr. Titian Peaie “ is said to have discovered a new bird allied to the Dodo,
which he proposes to name Diduncufas.” But Mr. Gould never stated that the Gnathodon (or DidmicuVus)
was actually allied to the Dodo, and no one in this country had ventured to assert the affinity of the latter
bird to the Pigeons, until, in the end of 1846 or beginning of 1847, I succeeded in convincing several
naturalists that this affinity was real. Mr. Gould has politely informed me that a short time previously to
the meeting of the Association “ Dr. Melville showed me the dissected head of the Dodo from Oxford,
together with skulls of several species of Gobmbida, when their similarity of form was so apparent that I
became a convert to its Columbidine affinity.”
1 From the Hist, de TAcad. Roy. des Sc. 1776, p.37, it appears that Pingré published, or at least wrote, a relation
of his voyage,in which he speaks of Solitaires, but I can find no notice of any such work among the published
biographies of Pingré.
2 The latitude of Pingré’s observatory was 19° 40' 40" S., its longitude 4h 3' 26" (or 60° 51' 30" E.) of Paris.
3 “ Birds of Australia, part xxii. Description of the Gnathodon strigirostris : the bird which its discoverer,
Mr. Titian Peale, supposed to be allied to the Dodo, and proposed to name Diduneulus, which was first described
by Sir W. Jardine under the name of Gnathodon strigirostris, and which Mr. Gould regards as being most nearly
allied to the family of Columbida”