kingdom; he has thinned the forest and the plain, in the same ratio as he has extended his empire; nay, the very tenants of the ocean have felt his power, and exhibited

the proofs of his influence in the diminution of their numbers, or the abandonment of their ancient haunts. It would be easy to prove from history, that various species of animals were once common over particular regions, where they are now no longer known. Nor would it, we suspect, be impossible to prove that some animals have not only been diminished in their numbers, or restricted in the bounds of their habitation, after an unsuccessful struggle to maintain their primeval empire, but have even become altogether extinct from the face of the earth, and that by the agency of man. One remarkable instance at least is upon record, an instance, too, occurring among a class of the feathered tribes, which, generally speaking, are most capable of avoiding the great destroyer. That bird is the Dodo.

To the east of Madagascar are a group of islands which, on their first discovery by Europeans, were uninhabited by human beings, and had, perhaps, never even been visited by man. These islands are now called Bourbon, Mauritius, and Rodrigue, and appear to have

constituted, if not the only habitat of the Dodo, at least its strong hold, where, unmolested, it long continued to exist and breed.

That the Dodo existed in other islands adjacent to Madagascar, and, perhaps, even in Madagascar itself, we have every reason to conclude; for the Portuguese who discovered the three islands above named, and are said to have found neither land-bird nor quadruped in them, having, in all probability, not instituted any search, were yet acquainted with this bird, and gave it the name of Solitario; and in 1497, Vasco de Gama, after doubling the Cape of Good Hope, found an island near a bay, where a number of these Solitarios were seen; and again in 1499, touching at the same place, the crew took a number of them.

In 1614, Bourbon, then called Mascarenhas by the Portuguese, and still uninhabited, was visited by Castleton, who found the Dodo in great numbers, and so tame as to allow itself to be taken or killed with sticks or stones. In Mauritius, he informs us, they are in great plenty, and there called the Giant.

In 1691, Rodrigue, which, although known, had, most probably, never been previously visited, owing to the coral reefs around it, and the want of secure anchorage, was examined by Legual, who remained there with seven companions, with a view to colonization. Of the Dodo, which he calls Solitaire, or the solitary, because, though abundant, it never congregates in flocks, he gives many interesting particulars. "The males have generally a grayish or brown plumage, the feet of the turkey, as also the beak, but a little more hooked. They have hardly any tail, and their posterior, covered with feathers, is rounded like the croup of a horse. They stand higher than the turkey-cock, and have a straight neck, a little longer, in proportion, than it is in that bird when it raises its head. The eye is black and lively, and the head without any crest or tuft. They do not fly, their wings being too short to support the weight of their bodies; they only use them in beating their sides, and in whirling round." He also notices their being a delicacy for the

table, and their weight, which is forty-five or even fifty pounds.

The females he states to be of a blond or pale brown colour, and to build a nest with leaves of the palm-tree, upon a clear spot of ground, laying only one egg, larger than that of a goose.

In 1698, the Dutch took the Mauritius, and there found this singular bird.

At what precise period the Dodo became extinct, it is impossible to say; most probably, towards the middle of the seventeenth century, or the beginning of the eighteenth, as all endeavours to discover the bird since Madagascar and the adjacent islands have become familiar to Europe have failed. The only relics of which we are aware, are a breast-bone in the museum at Paris, a foot in the British Museum, and a head and foot in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford; the remains, as it would appear, of a once perfect specimen which existed in Mr. Tradescant's mu- . seum at Lambeth. A painting of the bird also exists in the British Museum, copied by the late Mr. Edwards, from an original, taken from a living bird sent to Holland from the Mauritius, while this island was held by the Dutch. A cast of the head in the Ashmolean Museum is now before us; it resembles that of no bird now known; but has a general contour, at once proclaiming the close affinity of the Dodo to the vulture tribe, an affinity not perhaps altogether unindicated by the great difference existing between the number of its eggs, as reported by Legual, and those of the gallinaceous order in general, and of the family Struthionidæ in particular. In this opinion we are not alone. We may describe the head thus :It was very evidently capable of being (as in most vultures) retracted within a hood or fold of skin, thinly covered with small feathers; the beak, stout and large, but elongated, was strongly hooked at the tip, and covered at the base with an extensive cere, at the termination of which, near the edge of the upper mandible, are the nostrils; the gape is wide, extending beyond the eye; the skin of the throat was loose, and thinly clothed; the cheeks, forehead, and top of the head were naked; the

measurements are as follows:-From the eye to the end of the beak, six inches; to the nostril, three inches breadth of skull across forehead, three inches and a quarfrom the eye to the back of the head, three inches; mean depth of beak, two inches and a quarter.

ter;

It is not improbable but that a more accurate search in the islands where the Dodo lingered till its extinction, would bring to light more valuable relics, if not a perfect specimen.

But how, it may be asked, has the bird become extinct, and blotted out of the list of its race?

The Dodo appears to have been formed expressly for solitudes, unbroken by the enterprise of man, from whom, as its wings were powerless, it could not escape, and whom its instinct did not warn it to regard as an enemy, even had it possessed the natural means of avoiding his destructive proceedings. At all events, with short stout legs, and inefficient wings, fitting it to escape neither by speed nor by flight, it fell an easy prey (for what did man ever spare?) before the ruthless destroyer.

We have here, then, one bird which has become so completely extirpated, as to have left scarcely any relics to testify to its fate: strange however to say, such, it is strongly suspected, is, or soon will be, the case with our second example, the APTERYX AUSTRALIS, (Shaw.) Of all extraordinary birds this appears to be the most; and so anomalous is the whole of its conformation, that the existence of any specimen has been denied, to which such a combination of characters could legitimately belong. That such a specimen does exist is, however, as indisputable as its genuineness, but it is the only one extant in Europe. It was brought from New Zealand, and was in possession of the late Dr. Shaw, who gave a description of it, accompanied with a figure, in his "Naturalist's Miscellany." This unique specimen now forms part of the collection of Lord Stanley. This bird, having been previously unstuffed, so as to lay it completely open, that its genuineness might be proved, has been exhibited, and subjected to the most rigid scrutiny; and whatever doubts may have been previously entertained respecting it, they must now be dissipated.

The Apteryx stands about two feet in height. As its name imports, it is wingless; at least its wings are so rudimentary as to be discovered with difficulty, and are terminated by little claws. The beak is long, slightly

bent, and notched at the tip, on the upper mandible, down which runs a longitudinal furrow. The nostrils, instead of opening at the base of the mandible, as in birds in general, and especially in those whose conformation of beak approaches that of the present-a conformation adapting the beak for insertion into mud and water of morasses, and to allow of breathing going on at the same time—are here very minute, and situated at the very tip. The tarsi are short and thick, as are also the toes, of which the hindermost is merely a strong horny spur. The nails of the three anterior toes are straight and thick at the base, ending in a sharp point, and appear well adapted for digging. There is no vestige of a tail, the feathers are long, loose, and like those of the emeu; except that in the emeu, there are double plumes from each quill; whereas in the Apteryx they are single. The