THE DODO
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I read with much interest Mr. Julian Mockford's article on the Dodo, and wondered whether he was familiar with an account of this bird which I found in the London Magazine for May, 1759. At that time they ran a series of plates of out-of-the-way fauna accompanied by short descrip- tions, and this plate and description of the Dodo struck me as being rather extraordinary on account of the fact that, as far as I could discover, the Dodo had. then been extinct for many years. The description runs as follows : " The Dronte, or Dodaers is a bird of ,a size between an ostrich and a large Turkey, and has some resemblance to the former in the feathers and tail. The head is very large and not unlike that of a Cuckow, but quite naked of feathers. The eyes are large and black, the neck crooked and very thick, with a very long thick bill of a pale blue, except towards the extremities, where it is black above and yellowish underneath. Both the upper and lower parts are hooked at the ends. The body is very thick and covered with soft grey feathers like those of an Ostrich, and the legs are so short that its belly almost reaches the ground. On both sides there are
a sort of pen-feathers instead of wings, of a pale yellow colour, and there are five curled plumes instead of a tail. This bird is so fleshy, that one' of them will dine near thirty men."
A fatal quality !—Yours faithfully, G. K. Scorn.
42 Whiter Avenue, South Croydon, Surrey.
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