(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.
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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.