Part 12

This passage cannot be meant for a turtle-dove, but the description of the bill and surrounding of the eyes shows that it refers to a form allied to _Nesoenas mayeri_. The latter, however, is not entirely russet red, but the head, neck, underside and back are creamy white, washed with a greyish-rose colour. Therefore the bird mentioned by Le Sieur D.B. was evidently a representative of N. _mayeri_ or Bourbon. I name it in memory of Monsieur Dubois, who was the author of the Voyages of the "Sieur D.B."

Habitat: Bourbon or Réunion.

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ECTOPISTES SWAINS.

_Ectopistes_ Swainson, Zoological Journal III p. 362 (1827--Partim! _Columba speciosa_ and _C. migratoria_ mentioned as types, but ten years later the genus _Ectopistes_ was restricted to _C. migratoria_ by the same author).

Tail very long and excessively cuneate, the central rectrices sharply pointed. First primary of the wing longest. Tarsus very short, in front half covered with feathers. Now, only the Passenger Pigeon is included in this genus, while formerly the _Zenaidura carolinensis_ auct. used to be associated with it.

ECTOPISTES MACROURA (L.)

PASSENGER PIGEON.

_Columba macroura_ Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. X p. 164 (1758--Ex Catesby, Carolina I p. 23, pl. 23 [1754]. "Habitat in Canada, hybernat in Carolina." Regarding the necessity of accepting this name see Bangs, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington XIX p. 42, and Auk 1906, pp. 474, 475. The conclusions of Messrs. Bangs and Allen are perfectly correct).

_Columba canadensis_ Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. XII, p. 284 (1766--Ex Brisson, Orn. I p. 118. Habitat in Canada. Cf. note of Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXI, p. 369).

_Columba migratoria_ Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. XII p. 285 (Ex Frisch, pl. 142, Kalm., Brisson I, p. 100, Catesby. "Habitat in America Septentrionali copiosissima ..."); Wilson, Amer. Orn. I p. 102, pl. XLIX (1808); Temminck & Knip, Pigeons I, seconde fam., pls. 48, 49 (1808-11); Audubon, Orn. Biogr. I, p. 319 (1831); Baird, Brewer & Ridgway, Hist. N.A.B., Land-Birds III, p. 368, pl. 57, 4 (1874).

_Pigeon de Passage_ Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois. II, p. 527 (1771).

_Tourterelle du Canada_ Daubenton, Pl. Enl. 176.

_Columba Histrio_ P.L.S. Müller, Natursyst. Suppl. p. 134 (1776--ex Buffon).

_Columba ventralis_ id., l.c. p. 134 (1776--ex Buffon).

_Ectopistes migratoria_ Swainson, Zool. Journal III, p. 362 (1827); Gould, B. Europe, pl. 247 (1848); Coues, B. North-West, p. 387 (1874); Maynard, B. E. North America, p. 335 (1881).

_Trygon migratoria_ Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vög. Deutschl., p. 495 (1831).

_Ectopistes migratorius_ G. R. Gray, Gen. B. II, p. 471 (1844); Brewster, Auk 1889, pp. 286-291; Bendire, Life-History N. Amer. B., p. 132; Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXI, p. 370; Proc. Delaware Valley Ornith. Club II, p. 17 (1898); A.O.U. Check-List (Ed. II) p. 120, No. 315 (1895); Wintle, B. Montreal, p. 51 (1896); Minot, B. New England, p. 395 (1895); Auk 1903, p. 66.

_Trygon gregaria_ Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 258 (1855).

It is true that Linnaeus' diagnosis of his _Columba macroura_ is very short, reading, as it does, as follows: "Columba cauda cuneiformi longa, pectore purpurascente." These words, however, are clearly taken from Catesby, who gives an excellent figure and description, as is also the "Habitat," viz.: {168} Habitat in Canada, hybernat in Carolina, though Linnaeus first quotes Edwards 15, pl. 15, where an entirely different bird is described and figured. (Cf. Bangs, l.c.)

The Passenger Pigeon in former times occurred throughout North America in great abundance, from the Atlantic to the great Central Plains, and from the Southern States, where it rarely occurred, north to at least 62° northern latitude. Being a migrant, this bird used to migrate southwards after the breeding season, and to return to their homes in spring, but it also shifted its quarters according to the abundance or scarcity of food, like our Pigeons. Sometimes incredible numbers flocked together. Such stupendous flights have been described independently by Audubon, Wilson and others. In 1813 Audubon says that during his whole journey from Hardensburg to Louisville, fifty-five miles, countless masses of Pigeons continued to pass over, and also did so during the three following days. "At times they flew so low, that multitudes were destroyed, and for many days the entire population seemed to eat nothing else but Pigeons." Where they roosted in millions, the dung soon covered the ground and destroyed the grass and undergrowth, limbs and even small trees broke down from the weight of the birds. "One of the breeding places visited by Wilson, not far from Shelbyville, Kentucky, stretched through the forest in nearly a north and south direction. This was several miles in breadth, and upwards of forty miles in extent. In this immense tract nearly every tree was furnished with nests wherever there were branches to accommodate them. He was informed by those who sought to plunder the nests of the squabs, that the noise in the woods was so great as to terrify their horses, and that it was difficult for one person to hear another speak. The ground was strewed with broken limbs, eggs and young Pigeons. Hawks were sailing about in great numbers, while from twenty feet upwards to the tops of the trees there was a perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering multitudes of Pigeons, their wings resounding like thunder, and mingled with the frequent crash of falling trees. In one instance he counted ninety nests in a single tree."

It is only natural that man took advantage of such vast multitudes, and that they were killed in great numbers, for food, and, maybe, sometimes wantonly destroyed. Yet it is difficult to understand what brought on their total destruction, as their power of flight was great, and their vision remarkably keen. In 1874 Messrs. Baird, Brewer and Ridgway considered them still common birds, though "their abundance in large extents of the country had {169} been very sensibly reduced." At that time "in the New England States and in the more cultivated part of the country, these birds no longer bred in large communities. The instance near Montpelier, in 1849, is the only marked exception that has come within my knowledge. They now breed in isolated pairs, their nests being scattered through the woods and seldom near one another." In 1895, in the A.O.U. check-list, the authors say: "Breeding range now mainly restricted to portions of the Canadas and the northern borders of the United States, as far west as Manitoba and the Dakotas."

At the present time the Passenger Pigeon seems to have entirely disappeared, a small flock in an aviary apparently being all that is left of it alive. Mr. James H. Fleming, of Toronto, kindly sends me the following notes, which I think are of the greatest interest:--

"The disappearance of the Passenger Pigeon in Ontario dates back at least forty years, though as late as 1870 some of the old roosts were still frequented, but the incredible flocks, of which so much has been said, had gone long before that date, and by 1880 the pigeon was practically exterminated, not only in Ontario, but over the greater part of its old range. There are however occasional records of birds taken, for some years later. An immature bird taken September 9, 1887, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, is said to be the last for that part of the State[4]; a bird, also immature, is in my collection, taken in December, 1888, at Montreal, Quebec. There are other Montreal records of the same date,[5] but with the exception of one taken at Tadousac, July 26, 1889,[6] these are the last Quebec records of birds actually taken. In Ontario two were taken at Toronto in 1890, on September 20, and October 11, both immature females, the latter is in my collection, as is an adult female taken by Mr. Walter Brett, at Riding Mountain, Manatoba, May 12, 1892, one of a pair seen. I also have an adult male taken at Waukegon, Illinois, December 19, 1892. I was in New York in the latter part of November, 1892, and was then assured by Mr. Rowland, a well known taxidermist, that he had recently seen several barrels of pigeons that had been condemned as unfit for food; they had come to New York from Indian Territory, and I believe had had their tails pulled out to permit tighter packing. Mr. William Brewster has recorded the sending of several hundred dozens of pigeons to the Boston market in December of the same year, and in January, 1893; these were also from Indian Territory[7]; these are the last records we have of the Passenger Pigeon as anything more than a casual migrant. The records ceased after this till 1898, when three birds were taken at points widely apart, {170} an adult male at Winnipegosis, Manatoba, on April 14,[8] an immature male at Owensboro, Kentucky, on July 27, now in the Smithsonian Institution, and another immature bird taken at Detroit, Michigan, on September 14, now in my collection; these are the last records that can be based on specimens.

"In 1903 I published a list including sight records, one as late as May, 1902; this latter is possibly open to doubt, but the ones I gave for 1900 are, I feel confident, correct, as the birds were seen more than once and by different observers. For all practical purposes, the close of the Nineteenth Century saw the final extinction of the Passenger Pigeon in a wild state, and there remained only the small flock, numbering in 1903 not more than a dozen, that had been bred in captivity by Prof. C. O. Whitman, of Chicago; these birds are the descendants of a single pair, and have long ago ceased to breed. It was in an effort to obtain fresh blood for this flock that I started a newspaper enquiry that brought many replies, none of which could be substantiated as records of the Passenger Pigeon, and many referred to the Mourning Dove. I am aware that there has been lately wide-spread and persistent rumours of the return of the pigeons, but no rumour has borne investigation, and I feel that Prof. Whitman's small flock, now reduced (in 1906) to five birds, are the last representatives of a species around whose disappearance mystery and fable will always gather."

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FAMILY DIDIDAE. (L.)

Includes very large and massively-built forms, agreeing with the _Columbidae_ in the truncation of the angle of the mandible, but with the extremity of the cranial rostrum strongly hooked. They were totally incapable of flight, the wing-bones being small, the carina of the sternum aborted, and the caracoidal grooves shallow and separated from one another.

Two genera: _Didus_ and _Pezophaps_.

DIDUS LINN.

Skull with a very large and deeply hooked rostrum, and the nasal and maxillary processes of the praemaxilla converging anteriorly; the front region inflated into a sub-conical prominence of cancellous tissue. Neck and feet shorter than in the succeeding genus. Delto-pectoral crest of humerus distinct.

Two species: _Didus cucullatus_ and _Didus solitarius_. {172}

DIDUS CUCULLATUS (L.)

DODO.

(PLATES 24, 24A, 24B, 24C.)

_Walchvoghel_ Van Neck, Voy., p. 7, pl. 2 (1601).

_Walchvögel_ De Bry, Orient. Ind. pt. VIII, t. 11 (1606).

_Gallinaceus gallus peregrinus_ Clusius, Exot. Libr. V p. 99 t. 100 (1605).

_Dod-eersen_ or _Valgh-vogel_ Herbert's travels 1st ed. (1634) t. page 212.

_Cygnus cucullatus_ Nieremberg, Nat p. 231 (with fig. ex. Clus.) (1635).

_Dronte_ Bontius, Ind. Orient t. p. 70 (1658).

_Raphus_ Moehring, Av. gen. 57 (1752).

_Dodo_ Edwards, Glean. Nat Hist. III p. 179 pl. 296 (1757).

_Struthio cucullatus_ Linn., S. N. I p. 155 No. 4 (1758).

_Didus ineptus_ Linn., S. N. I p. 267 No. 1 (1766).

The first description of this very remarkable bird was given in the account of the voyage of Admiral Jacob van Neck in 1598, which was published by Corneille Nicolas at Amsterdam in 1601. It is as follows:--"Blue parrots are very numerous there, as well as other birds; among which are a kind, conspicuous for their size, larger than our swans, with huge heads only half covered with skin as if clothed with a hood. These birds lack wings, in the place of which 3 or 4 blackish feathers protrude. The tail consists of a few soft incurved feathers, which are ash coloured. These we used to call 'Walghvögel,' for the reason that the longer and oftener they were cooked, the less soft and more insipid eating they became. Nevertheless their belly and breast were of a pleasant flavour and easily masticated."

In a large number of works on travel and voyages published in the 17th and 18th Centuries we find all sorts of notices about the Dodo, and numerous pictures of which I have given outline drawings. From these sources it appears that the Dodo became extinct about the end of the 17th Century, _i.e._, 1680-1690. The causes of the extermination of this, perhaps the best known and most talked about of the recently extinct birds, are not far to seek. The total inability of flight, the heavy slow gait, and the utter fearlessness from long immunity from enemies, led to a continual slaughter for food by the sailors and others who came to and dwelt on Mauritius. But the final cause of the extermination of this and many other birds in the Mascarene Islands was probably the introduction of pigs, and also of the Ceylon Monkey. These animals increased enormously in numbers, ran wild in the woods, and soon destroyed all the eggs and young birds they could find. {173}

It is strange that for many years after great attention had been paid to the _Dodo_, ornithologists differed conspicuously as to what family it and the other two Didine species belonged. Many asserted that it was a Struthious bird, in fact Linnaeus called it calmly _Struthio cucullatus_, while others just as forcibly declared it to be an abnormal Vulture. The truth is, that although the _Didunculus strigirostis_ of Samoa, which was supposed to be its near representative, is not at all closely allied, yet the two species of _Didus_ and _Pezophaps solitarius_ form a group of very specialized pigeons.

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF THE PAINTINGS REPRESENTING THE DODO.

1. _Vienna_, in the Library of the Emperor Francis. By Hufnagel, 1626, reproduced by von Frauenfeldt in his book, 1868.

2. _Berlin._ "Altes Museum," Cabinet 3, Division 2, No. 710. By Roelandt Savery, 1626.

3. _Sion House._ Duke of Northumberland. By John Goeimare, 1627.

4. _Vienna._ Kunsthistorisches Hofmuseum, formerly Belvedere. By Roelandt Savery, 1628

5. _London._ Zoological Society, formerly Broderip. By Roelandt Savery, undated.

6. _Pommersfelden, Bavaria._ Count Schönborn, "Orpheus charming the Beasts." By Roelandt Savery, undated.

7. _Haag._ Mauritshuis. "Orpheus charming the Beasts." By Roelandt Savery.

8. _Stuttgart._ Formerly Dr. Seyffer, but sold at his death and since disappeared. By Roelandt Savery.

9. _London._ British Museum, formerly belonging to G. Edwards. Probably by Roelandt Savery.

10. _Emden._ Galerie der Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst. "Orpheus charming the Beasts." By Roelandt Savery.

11. _Oxford._ Ashmolean Museum. By John Savery, 1651.

12. _Haarlem._ Dr. A. van der Willigen, Pz. By Pieter Holsteyn (1580-1662), not dated.

13. _Dresden._ Kgl. Gemälde-Galerie. "Circe and Ulysses." By C. Ruthart, 1666.

14. _Dresden._ Kgl. Gemälde-Galerie. "The Creation of the Animals." Supposed to be by Franz Francken (1581-1642), no date, and said to be by a different artist.

At least 2 _Mauritius Dodos_ have been exhibited alive in Europe, one brought back by Van Neck in 1599, and which most likely served as the model for nearly all Roelandt Savery's pictures, and one exhibited in London in the year 1638, mentioned by Sir Hamon Lestrange. This is almost certainly the bird afterwards preserved in Tradescant's Museum (1656), and finally in Oxford (Ashmolean Museum), and probably served for the model of the supposed Savery picture in the British Museum.

The Dodo inhabited Mauritius.

NOTE.--_Didus nazarenus_ Gmelin, based on the "Oiseau de Nazareth" of Cauche (Descr. de l'ile de Madagascar, p. 130, ff, 1651) is evidently founded on a mistaken and partly fictitious description of a Dodo, or rather a mixture of that of the Dodo and a Cassowary. The name was, perhaps, also a mistake, derived from that of "_Oiseau de nausée_," which has a similar meaning as "Walghvogel."

{174}

Explanation of Plates of Dodo.

_Plate 24._

This was taken from the picture by Roelandt Savery in Berlin, but the wings, tail and bill have been altered, partly from Pierre Witthoos' picture of the Bourbon Dodo, and partly from anatomical examination. The tail, however, appears to have been curled over the back in life, according to most authors.

_Plate 24 (a)._

_Fig. 1._ Reproduction in outline of the Dodo in Savery's Orpheus at Haag. Vide antea No. 7 in the List of Paintings.

_Fig. 2._ Outline of Dodo (and Pelican?) in Ruthart's "Circe and Ulysses" at Dresden. Vide antea No. 13 in the List of Paintings.

_Fig. 3._ Outline of Dodo (and Pelican?) in Frans Franckens (?) picture in Dresden. Vide antea No. 14 in the List of Paintings.

_Plates 24 (b and c)._

_No. 1._ Outline of Dodo in Roelandt Savery's picture at Berlin. Vide antea No. 2 in the List of Paintings.

_No. 2._ Outline of picture by Roelandt Savery in the British Museum. Vide antea No. 9 in the List of Paintings.

_No. 3._ Outline of Dodo in Jacob van Neck's Voyage, Plate 2 (1598).

_No. 4._ Outline of Roelandt Savery's Dodo, Vienna. Vide antea No. 4 in the List of Paintings.

_No. 5._ Outline of Dodo in Broeck's Voyage (Peter van Broeck's Voyage, 1617).

_No. 6._ Outline of Dodo in Piso's additions to Jacob Bontiu's Oriental Natural History, 1658.

_No. 7._ Outline of Dodo in Sir Thomas Herbert's Relation of some yeares Travels, 1626.

_No. 8._ Outline of Dodo in Clusius Exoticorum libri decem, 1605.

_No. 9._ Outline of Dodo in Joan Nievhof's Gedenkwaerdige Zee and Lantreize, 1682.

_No. 10._ Outline of Dodo in John Goeimare's picture at Sion House, 1627. Vide antea No. 3 in the List of Paintings.

_No. 11._ Outline of Dodo in Roelandt Savery's picture at Pommersfelden. Vide antea No. 6 in the List of Paintings.

_No. 12._ Outline of Dr. H. Schlegel's restoration of the Dodo in Transactions, &c., of the Amsterdam Academy, vol. 2, 1854.

_No. 13._ Outline of Dodo in Roelandt Savery's picture, Zoological Society, London. Vide antea No. 5 in the List of Paintings.

{175}

DIDUS SOLITARIUS (SELYS).

RÉUNION DODO.

(PLATES 25, 25A, 25B.)

_Great Fowl_ Tatton, Voy. Castleton, Purchas his Pilgrimes, ed. (1625) I p. 331 (Bourbon or Réunion).

_Dod-eersen_ Bontekoe, Journ. ofte gedenck. beschr. van de Ost. Ind. Reyse Haarlem (1646) p. 6.

_Oiseau Solitaire_ Carré, Voy. Ind. Or. I p. 12 (1699).

_Solitaire_ Voy. fait par Le Sieur D.B. (1674) p. 170.

_Apterornis solitarius_ de Selys, Rev. Zool (1848) p. 293.

_Didus apterornis_ Schlegel, Ook een Wordje over den Dodo p. 15 f. 2 (1854).

_Pezophaps borbonica_ Bp., Consp. Av. II p. 2 (1854).

_Ornithaptera borbonica_ Bp., Consp. Av. II. p. 2 (1854).

_Didine Bird of the Island of Bourbon_ (_Réunion_) A. Newt. Tr. Zool. Soc. VI pp. 373-376, pl. 62 (1867).

_Apterornis solitaria_ Milne-Edw., Ibis (1869) p. 272.

_? Didus borbonica_ Schleg., Mus. P.B. Struthiones p. 3 (1873).

_Solitaire of Réunion_ A. Newton, Enc. Brit. II p. 732 (1875).

The Didine bird of Réunion was first mentioned by Mr. Tatton, the Chief Officer of Captain Castleton, in his account of their voyage given in Purchas his Pilgrimes. His account is as follows:--

"There is store of land fowle both small and great, plenty of Doves, great Parrats, and such like; and a great fowle of the bignesse of a Turkie, very fat, and so short winged, that they cannot fly, being white, and in a manner tame: and so be all other fowles, as having not been troubled nor feared with shot. Our men did beat them down with sticks and stones. Ten men may take fowle enough to serve fortie men a day."

We then find frequent mention of this bird by Bontekoe in 5 separate treatises or editions, from 1646 to 1650, and by Carré in 1699. But the first more detailed description is given by the Sieur D.B. (Dubois) in 1674, which is as follows:--

"_Solitaires._ These birds are thus named because they always go alone. They are as big as a big goose and have white plumage, black at the extremity of the wings and of the tail. At the tail there are some feathers resembling those of the Ostrich. They have the neck long and the beak formed like that of the Woodcocks (he refers to the woodrails, _Erythromachus_--W.R.), but larger, and the legs and feet like those of Turkey-chicks. This bird betakes itself to running, only flying but very little. It is the best game on the Island." {176}

It will be seen that, while Dubois says the wings and tail are black, Pierre Witthoos's picture, from which the accompanying plate was partly drawn, shows the wings yellow. This may either be due to Dubois' faulty description, or, what is much more probable, the bird brought to Amsterdam, which Witthoos painted, was somewhat albinistic. The bill in the picture by Witthoos shows a distinctly mutilated bill, evidently done by the bird's keeper to prevent being injured by the formidable hook of the untrimmed bill. In addition to two pictures (the one formerly in the possession of Mr. C. Dare, of Clatterford, in the Isle of Wight, and a second in Holland, both by Pieter Witthoos, painted about the year 1670), we know of this bird only the drawing given in Zaagman's edition of Bontekoe, 1646. In all these drawings the first four primaries point down and forward, which is probably owing to the injured condition of the specimen figured, so in the accompanying plate I had the wing drawn like the true Dodo's and the bill reconstructed.

Habitat: Island of Bourbon or Réunion.

Only known from the above-mentioned descriptions and two drawings. No specimens existing.

This bird became extinct between the years 1735 and 1801, because in the latter year Monsieur Bory St. Vincent made his scientific survey of the Island, and no such bird existed then; while we know that Monsieur de la Bourdonnaye, who was governor of the Mascarene Islands from 1735 to 1746, sent one alive to one of the directors of the French East Indian Company. Of this, the second living specimen brought to Europe, we unfortunately have neither drawing nor history.

Explanation of Plates.

_Plate 25._

Drawing of White Dodo from Pierre Witthoos' picture, the bill and tail being reconstructed from the model of the common Dodo.

_Plate 25 (a)._

_Fig. 5._ Outline of figure of White Dodo in the picture by Pieter Witthoos circa 1670 vide supra.

_Fig. 8._ Outline of Woodcut in Zaagman's edition of Bontekoe van Hoorn, 1646.

_Fig. 7._ Outline of figure of White Dodo in an edition of Plinius Secundus about 1643 but without date.

_Fig. 4._ Outline of Dr. H. Schlegel's reconstruction of the Réunion Dodo.

_Plate 25 (b)._

Drawing from description of the Sieur D.B. (Dubois), 1674.

{177}

PEZOPHAPS STRICKLAND & MELVILLE.

Skull with a moderate rostrum, slightly hooked, and the nasal and maxillary processes of the praemaxillae diverging anteriorly; the frontal region flat with but little cancellous tissue. Coracoid stout. Manus armed with an ossified tuberosity. Neck and feet long. Delto-pectoral crest of humerus aborted.

This genus connects _Didus_ with the _Columbidae_. The male is much larger than the female.

PEZOPHAPS SOLITARIUS (GM.)

THE SOLITAIRE.

(PLATE 23, 25A, FIGS. 1, 2, 3.)

_Solitaire_ Leguat, Voy. deux iles désertes Ind. Or. I pp. 98. 102 (1708).

_Didus solitarius_ Gmelin, S. N. I p. 728, n. 2 (1788).