INTRODUCTION.
descriptions of unscientific voyagers, three or four oil paintings, and a few scattered
fragments, which have survived the neglect of two hundred years. The paleontologist has,
in many cases, far better data for determining the zoological characters of a species which
perished myriads of years ago, than those presented by a group of birds, several species of
which were living in the reign of Charles the First.
We shall find it convenient to treat of each island, and of its ornithic productions,
separately. And, first, of the best known and most celebrated of these creatures, the
brevipennate bird of Mauritius, the DODO.
THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF THE
DODO, S O L I T A I R E , & c .
PART I.
C H A P T E R I.
The Brevipennate Bird of Mauritius, the DODO, (Didus ineptus of Linneeus.)
SECTION I.—Division of the subject—Historical evidences—Discovery of the Islands—Voyage of Van Neck ;
of Heemskerk and Willem—Dodo's ley at Leyden—Voyage of Matclief ; of Van der Hagen; of Verhuffen
; of Van dm Broecke ; of Herbert; of Gauche—Dodo exhibited in London—Account given by
Tradescanl; by Piso ; by Hubert; by Olearius—Harry's Voyage—Extinction of the Dodo—Negative
character of modern evidence.
MOST persons are acquainted with the general facts connected with that extraordinary
production of Nature, known by the name of the Dodo,—that strange abnormal Bird, whose
grotesque appearance, and the failure of every effort made for the last century and a half to
discover living specimens, long caused its very existence to be doubted by scientific naturalists.
We possess, however, unquestionable evidence that such a b u d formerly existed in the small
Island of Mauritius, and it is ascertained with no less certainty that the species has been
utterly exterminated for a period of nearly two centimes.
The evidences which we possess respecting the Dodo, may be conveniently arranged on
the plan adopted by Mr. Brodcrip, in his valuable essay on the subject,1 by dividing them
into historical, pictorial, and real.
1 Penny Cyclopaedia vol. ix. p. 47.
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