Part 2

“Mr. Duncan thus concludes his paper above alluded to:—‘Having applied, through the medium of a friend, to C. Telfair, Esq., of Port Louis, in the Mauritius, a naturalist of great research, for any information he could furnish or procure relating to the former existence of the Dodo in that island, I obtained only the following partly negative statement:—

“‘That there is a very general impression among the inhabitants that the Dodo did exist at Rodriguez, as well as in the Mauritius itself; but that the oldest inhabitants have never seen it, nor has the bird or any part of it been preserved in any museum or collection formed in those islands, although some distinguished amateurs in natural history have passed their lives on them, and formed extensive collections. And with regard to the supposed existence of the Dodo in Madagascar, although Mr. Telfair had not received, at the time of his writing to Europe, a reply to a letter on the subject which he had addressed to a gentleman resident on that island, yet he stated that he had not any great expectations from that quarter; as the Dodo was not mentioned in any of his voluminous manuscripts respecting that island, which contained the travels of persons who had traversed Madagascar in all directions, many of them having no other object in view than that of extending the bounds of natural history.’

“We close this part of the case with the evidence of one evidently well qualified to judge, and whose veracity there is no reason to doubt. If this evidence be, as we believe it to be, unimpeachable, it is clear not only that the Dodo existed, but that it was publicly exhibited in London. The lacunæ in the print represent the spaces occasioned by a hole burnt in the manuscript.

“In the ‘Sloane MSS.’ (No. 1839, 5, p. 108, Brit. Mus.) is the following interesting account by L’Estrange in his observations on Sir Thomas Browne’s ‘Vulgar Errors.’ It is worthy of note that the paragraph immediately follows one on the ‘Estridge’ (Ostrich).

“‘About 1638, as I walked London streets I _saw the_ picture of a strange fowl hong out upon a cloth canvas and myselfe with one or two more Gen. in company went in to see it. It was kept in a chamber, and was a great fowle somewhat bigger than the largest Turkey Cock and so legged and footed but stouter and thicker and of a more erect shape, coloured before like the breast of a yong Cock Fesan (pheasant), and on the back of dunn or deare coulour. The keeper called it a Dodo and in the ende of a chimney in the chamber there lay an heap of large pebble stones whereof hee gave it many in our sight, some as big as nutmegs, and the keeper told us shee eats them (conducing to digestion) and though I remember not how farre the keeper was questioned therein yet I am confident that afterwards she cast them all agayne[6].’

“_Evidence arising from Remains._—The only existing recent remains attributed to the Dodo are, a leg (fig. 4) in the British Museum, and a head (fig. 3) (a cast of which is in the British Museum), and a leg in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, the relics most probably of Tradescant’s bird. Whether the leg formerly in the museum of Pauw be that at present in the British Museum may be, perhaps, doubtful, though we think with Mr. Gray that they are probably identical; but that the specimen in the British Museum did not belong to Tradescant’s specimen is clear, for it existed in the collection belonging to the Royal Society when Tradescant’s ‘Dodar’ was complete.

“In the ‘Annales des Sciences’ (tome xxi. p. 103, Sept 1830) will be found an account of an assemblage of fossil bones, then recently discovered, under a bed of lava, in the Isle of France, and sent to the Paris Museum. They almost all belonged to a large living species of land-tortoise, called _Testudo indica_, but amongst them were the head, sternum, and humerus of the Dodo. ‘M. Cuvier,’ adds Mr. Lyell in his ‘Principles of Geology,’ ‘showed me these valuable remains at Paris, and assured me that they left no doubt in his mind that the huge bird was one of the gallinaceous tribe[7].’”

The bones in question were obtained from a cavern in the Island of Rodriguez (Desjardins, Analyse des Travaux de la Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de l’Ile Maurice, 2ᵈᵉ année), and belong to the Solitaire (_Pezophaps_), a large extinct brevipennate bird, allied to the Dodo. The other evidences from remains, cited by Broderip, also relate to the Solitaire.

Such was the history of the Dodo in 1837.

In the following year I visited Holland, chiefly with a view to ascertain whether there might possibly be any remnant of the bird preserved in the Natural History Museums of that country, and to collect for my friend whatever other evidence, material, written or pictorial, might have escaped his assiduous researches.

My visits to the museums at Leyden, Amsterdam, Utrecht, and the Hague, during which I received every requisite aid from the accomplished Professors and Curators, were productive of only negative results. The little other information I was able to obtain was communicated to Mr. Broderip, who incorporated it in the following “Supplement to his History.”

“_Additional evidence relative to the Dodo. By_ +W. J. Broderip+, _Esq., F.R.S._

“The interest which attaches to any communication relative to an extinct, and, at one time, a doubted species, must be my apology for offering the following addition to the evidences of the existence and habits of the Dodo.

“My old and valued friend Professor Owen presented me, on his return from Holland some time since, with a short thick volume, bearing on its titlepage (not without black letter) the following promise:—

“‘C. Plinii Secundi Des wijdt-vermaerden Natuurkondigers vijf Boecken.

_Handelen van de Nature._

I. Van de Menschen. II. Van de viervoetige en Kruypende Dieren. III. Van de Vogelen. IV. Van de Kleyne Beestjes of Ongedierten. V. Van de Visschen, Oesters, Kreeften, &c.

“‘Hier zijn by-gevoeght de Schriften van verscheyden andere oude Authueren de Natuur der Dieren aengaende. En nu in desen laetsen Druck wel het vierde part vermeerdert, uyt verscheyden nieuwe Schrijvers en eygen oudervindinge: en met veel Kopere Platen verziert t’Amsterdam, By +Abraham Wolfgangh+, 1662.’

“The frontispiece presents the artist’s notion of the Garden of Eden, with a very Dutch Adam and Eve, the latter with the apple in her hand, while the serpent twined round the tree looks sly and satisfied. Our first parents are surrounded by beasts, and in the foreground is represented a piece of water with waterfowl and ‘ill-shaped fishes.’

“The superscription is ‘C. Plinius S. Van de Menschen, Beesten, Vogelen en Visschen.’

“Mr. Strickland, in his elaborate work on ‘The Dodo and its Kindred[8],’ in which he has done me the honour to adopt the arrangement and the information collected in my article ‘Dodo,’ in the ‘Penny Cyclopædia[9],’ gives some addenda in his postscript to Part I. of his and Dr. Melville’s book. ‘The first of these,’ writes Mr. Strickland, ‘is a rare edition of Bontekoe’s Voyage, kindly communicated to me by Dr. Bandinel, the Bodleian Librarian, entitled “Journael van de acht-jarige avontuerlijcke Reyse van Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe van Hoorn, gedaen nae Oost-Indien,” published in quarto at Amsterdam, by Gillis Joosten Zaagman. There is no date; but from a narrative introduced at the end, it must be subsequent (probably by a year or two) to 1646. The narrative is nearly a verbatim version of the other Dutch editions of Bontekoe; and the only variation of text which concerns us, is in the statement that the underside of the Dodo dragged along the ground, which is here qualified thus:—“sleepte haer de neers _by na_ (i. e. _almost_) langs de Aerde.” But what gives a peculiar interest to this volume is, that it contains (alone of all the editions of Bontekoe which I have seen) a figure of the Dodo, which I here present.’ Then follows the cut.

“‘This highly ludicrous representation,’ continues Mr. Strickland, ‘is more like a fighting cock than a Dodo; and the black letter of the Dutch text omits to tell us whether this design was due to the pencil of Bontekoe or his publisher Zaagman, or whether it was copied from some contemporary painting now forgotten. But there can be no doubt that this figure refers to the true Dodo of Mauritius, and not to the “Solitaire” of Bourbon, with which Bontekoe confounded it.

“‘We may regret that the rudeness of the original woodcut leaves us in the dark as to the nature of the object on which the Dodo appears about to feed. This figure would pass equally well for a testaceous mollusk, or for an arboreal fruit; so that the problem of the Dodo’s food seems as far from a solution as ever.’

“In Wolfgangh’s publication, p. 480, is the following description:—

“‘Op’t Eylandt Mauritius in Oost-Indien, als mede op sommige andere plaetsen gelijck mede in West-Indien, vindt men voegels soo groot als Swanen, die men Dodaersen of Dronten noemt, sy hebben groote hoofden, en daer op een velleken in manier van een Kapken, sy hebben geen vleugels, dan in plaetsvan dien, 3 of 4 swarte pennekens, en daer haer staert behoorde te staen, daer Zijn 4 of 5 gekrulde Pluymkens, van graeuwachtige verwe. Sy hebben een dicke ronde Naers, daer uyt het schijnt, dat haer de naem van Dodaers toe gekomen is; in de maegh hebben sy gemeenlijck een Steen van een vuyst groot, dese is bruyn, graeuw van verwe, en vol gaetkens, en hollingheydt, doch soo hart als grauwe Bentemeer-steen. Het Boots-volck van _Jacob van Neck_, noemden se Walgh-vogels, om dat se die niet recht gaer of murrruw konden koken: of om datse soo veel Tortel-duyven konden bekomen, die leckerder smaeckten, datse van dese Dod-aersen de walgh kregen. Aen 3 of 4 van dese Vogels had al’t Scheeps volck van een Schip, voor een maeltijdt genoegh t’ eeten: Dese Dod-aersen hebbense oock ingesouten en op de reys mede genomen.’

“This description may be thus rendered:—

“‘In the Island of Mauritius in the East Indies, as also in sundry other places, likewise in the West Indies, men find birds as big as swans, which they call _Dod-aerses_ or _Drontes_. They have large heads, upon the top of which is a skin (a little skin-membrane) in the shape of a cap (little cap). They have no wings, but in the place of them there are three or four black feathers; and there where the tail should be, there are instead four or five curling plumes of a greyish colour. They have a thick round rump, and from this it appears they got the name of Dod-aerses. In their stomachs they have commonly a stone as big as a fist; this stone is of a brown-grey colour, and full of little holes and hollows, but as hard as the grey Bentemer stone. The boat’s crew of _Jacob van Neck_ called them Walgh-vogels (surfeit birds), because they could not cook them till they were done, or make them tender; or because they were able to get so many turtle-doves which had a much more pleasant flavour, so that they took a disgust to these birds. Likewise it is said that three or four of these birds are enough to afford a whole ship’s company one full meal. Indeed they salted down some of them, and carried them with them on the voyage.’

“At the top of the page in which this passage commences is printed ‘_Van de Dodaersen_.’ And immediately below it and above the description is a copper-plate of the bird, superscribed ‘_Dod-aers_,’ in engraved italics.

“The engraving of the bird is identical in position and accessories with the woodcut given by Mr. Strickland; but the sharpness of the work and the nature of the plate make the whole much clearer. The object at which the Dodo is looking, as if about to feed, is manifestly a testaceous mollusk with a turbinated shell, and between that and the raised foot of the bird is a half-buried spiny _Echinus_.

“The locality on which the Dodo is walking has the appearance of a strand which the tide has left dry.

“Wolfgangh’s account confirms the opinion which I hazarded in the article ‘Dodo’ in the ‘Penny Cyclopædia.’

“‘As to the stories of the disgusting quality of the flesh of the bird found and eaten by the Dutch, they will weigh but little in the scale when we take the expression to be, what it really was, indicative of a comparative preference for the turtle-doves there found, after feeding on Dodos _usque ad nauseam_. “Always partridges” has become proverbial, and we find from Lawson how a repetition of the most delicious food palls. “We cooked our supper,” says that traveller, “but having neither bread nor salt, our fat turkeys began to be loathsome to us; although we were never wanting of a good appetite, yet a continuance of one diet made us weary;” and again, “By the way our guide killed more turkeys, and two polecats, which he eat, esteeming them before fat turkeys.”’

“It does not follow that because the Dodo is represented as looking at the _frutti di mari_, he is about to devour them. But if it be granted he is, the admission would not militate against the opinion of those who would place the Dodo between the Struthious and Gallinaceous birds. It is well known that the turkeys in America come down to the shore and feed upon the ‘fiddler’ crabs; and there would be nothing extraordinary in a quisquilious feeder, such as the Dodo probably was, varying its fruit and vegetable diet occasionally by resorting to such animal substances as it might find on the strand. Common poultry eagerly pick up insects and slugs in the fields, and, in the neighbourhood of tidal rivers and estuaries, may be seen availing themselves of the smaller _mollusca_ and _crustacea_ left by the retreating tide.

“In my article ‘Struthionidæ[10]’ under the section ‘Didus,’ is inserted the following extract from a letter written to me by Professor Owen:—

“‘Whilst at the Hague in the summer of 1848, I was much struck with the minuteness and accuracy with which the exotic species of animals had been painted by Savery and Breughel, in such subjects as _Paradise_, _Orpheus charming the beasts_, &c., in which scope was allowed for grouping together a great variety of animals. Understanding that the celebrated menagerie of Prince Maurice had afforded the living models to those artists, I sat down one day before Savery’s _Orpheus and the beasts_, to make a list of the species, which the picture evinced that the artist had had the opportunity to study alive. Judge of my surprise and pleasure in detecting in a dark corner of the picture (which is badly hung between two windows), the Dodo beautifully finished, showing for example, though but three inches long, the auricular circle of feathers, the scutation of the tarsi, and the loose structure of the caudal plumes. In the number and proportions of the toes and in general form, it accords with Edwards’s oil-painting in the British Museum; and I conclude that the miniature must have been copied from the study of a living bird, which, it is most probable, formed part of the Mauritian menagerie.’

“I little thought, when, with his permission, I published this graphic product of my kind friend’s pen, what was in store for me. Not long afterwards, a friend informed me that he had seen a picture at a dealer’s painted by one of the Saverys, and that he was pretty sure there was a Dodo in one corner of it. I sent for the picture, and there, sure enough, in the right-hand corner, and consequently to the left of the spectator, was the bird, in all the beauty of its ugliness. The Dodo stands on one foot with its back to the spectator, and turning round its head, which is represented with the huge bill picking the other uplifted foot. Like all the rest of the birds in this picture, which bears the name of Roland Savery, the Dodo is highly finished. The picture is now in my possession[11].”

The figure 2 in Plate I. is a faithful copy of the bird as represented in it.

Whilst on a visit to Sion House I was unexpectedly gratified by finding, in a small oil-painting in the long gallery, an unequivocal and original representation of the Dodo, in an attitude different from that of any of the figures of the living bird by Roland Savery, and evidently by another master. I lost no time in communicating this additional evidence of the extinct bird to Mr. Broderip, and in obtaining the permission of my noble host to make such use of the painting as might best subserve the interests of Natural History. Mr. Broderip communicated to the Zoological Society the following:—

“_Notice of an Original Painting, including a Figure of the Dodo, in the Collection of His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, at Sion House._

“Professor Owen, at whose disposal the Duke of Northumberland placed the following additional pictorial evidence of the existence of the Dodo in the seventeenth century, has requested me to draw the attention of this Society to the highly interesting picture which the Duke has been so good as to send for the inspection of the Fellows. The size of the picture, which is in the finest preservation, is thirty-two inches by nineteen. It is executed in oil, and bears the following monogram and date. Mr. William Russell, with his usual discernment, detected in this monogram the signatures of Jean Goeimare and Jean David de Heem, and proved the correctness of his judgment by a reference to Brulliot[12]. Jean Goeimare, who is not noticed by Descamps, Bryan, Sandrart, or Houbraken, is described by Brulliot as a Flemish artist who flourished at the commencement of the seventeenth century, and painted landscapes with many animals, executed with great care, but in rather a dry manner[13]. Of De Heem, the celebrated painter of still life, it would be superfluous to say anything. We may conclude, then, that in this joint production the landscape and animals were painted by Goeimare, and the shells by De Heem.

“In this picture, which seems to have been intended as a record of rarities, the foreground represents a sea-shore from which the tide has retired, leaving empty shells of the following genera:—_Nautilus_, _Pteroceras_, _Strombus_, _Triton_, _Pyrula_, _Cassis_, _Cypræa_, _Conus_, _Mitra_, _Turbo_, _Nerita_, _Mytilus_, _Ostrea_, &c. Behind, on elevated ground, are two Ostriches; and below, to the right of the spectator, the Dodo is represented as in the act of picking up something from the strand” (fig. 5). “The head and body of the bird, covering an area as large as the palm of a man’s hand, are seen; but the legs are hidden. The painter of the Dodo, in _my_ picture” (Pl. I. fig. 2), “has given the only complete foreshortened back view of the bird known to me. In the Duke’s picture the head and body are presented to the spectator on a larger scale; and I have nowhere seen the hood or ridge at the base of the bill, from which the bird obtained the name of _Cygnus cucullatus_, so clearly represented. Near the Dodo are a Smew and other aquatic birds, and further off Hoopoes and Terns. In the distance is the ocean, with a sea-monster awaiting the attack of Perseus, who descends on a winged steed to the rescue of Andromeda chained to a rock. Those who have had occasion to describe and figure new species of Testacea, know how difficult it is to find a draughtsman who can give a correct design of the shell to be represented. Unless the artist, like Mr. G. B. Sowerby, jun., is aware of the internal structure of the shell, and acquainted with its organization, a lamentable failure is generally the result. In the picture before us, with one exception—and even in that the specimen may have been distorted—so accurate was the eye of the painter, that if he had been aware of the organization of each shell—knowledge which he probably had not—he could not have represented the objects more correctly. The _Nautili_[14], _Strombus gigas_, _Triton_, and _Pyrula_ are painted with great breadth and power, and all are drawn and coloured with wonderful truth; indeed a conchologist may name every species. One of the _Nautili_ is partially uncoated, to show the nacre, and the other dissected, to display the concamerations. None of the shells have the epidermis, and all are of the natural size. The artificial condition of these subjects, and especially of the _Nautili_, is, it must be allowed, rather out of place in an assemblage of testaceans left on the sands by the retired tide, unless we are to suppose that the sea-nymphs had been amusing themselves by polishing the specimens and displaying the internal structure of one of them; but this very treatment shows that the designs were accurately made from real objects then considered as rarities. With the exception of the Dodo, none of the natural objects represented are now rare. The shells, especially those whose _habitats_ are the seas of the Antilles, are at present very common; but at the date of the picture—the second year of the reign of our first Charles—the natural productions of the West Indies were not well known, and were, comparatively, very scarce. With the shells on the shore is the cranium of a carnivorous quadruped, apparently of the family _Canidæ_. The monster-cetacean in the distance has evidently no chance with the avenger who is coming down upon him mounted on a winged steed. But Pegasus, who, with other prodigies, sprang from the blood that dropped from Medusa’s head, as the conqueror who had cut it off with his harpe traversed the air with his gory trophy, immediately winged its flight to Helicon, there to become the pet of the Muses. The best version of this mythological story relates, that when Perseus afterwards killed the sea-monster and delivered Andromeda on the coast of Ethiopia, he effected his purpose by raising himself in the air through the aid of the wings and talaria given to him by Mercury, and not with the help of the winged horse on which most of the painters mount him.

“Professor Owen informs me that Roland Savery’s picture containing the Dodo, in the Berlin collection, bears the date of 1626; and that the colour of the Dodo in the Duke of Northumberland’s picture resembles that of the portrait of the bird, of life size, by the same painter, now at Oxford. L’Estrange describes the hue of the back of the living Dodo which he saw exhibited in London ‘about 1638,’ as of ‘dunn or deare colour.’”

The picture of the Dodo at Berlin by R. Savery, to which Mr. Broderip refers, is copied in figure 1, Plate I. Another figure of the bird, by the same artist, is introduced into a painting in the Imperial Collection of the Belvedere at Vienna. Fig. 3, Plate I. of the present work, is from the copy of this picture, transmitted by Dr. Tschudi to Mr. Strickland, and given at p. 30 of the ‘Dodo and its Kindred.’ The date of the picture is 1628.