there, as the common people and seamen fancy, but swallowed by the bird; as though by this mark also nature would manifest that these fowl are of the ostrich kind, in that they swallow any hard things, though they do not digest them.’ “It appears from Adam Olearius (Die Gottorfische Kunst Kammer, 1666), that there was a head to be seen in the Gottorf Museum; but the figure (tab. 13. f. 5) is very like that of Clusius. It is mentioned as the head of the _Walch-Vogel_, and Clusius is referred to. In the plate the head is shaded, and has a more finished appearance: the rest of the bird is in outline[4]. “Grew (‘Musæum Regalis Societatis; or a catalogue and description of the natural and artificial rarities belonging to the Royal Society,’ London, folio, 1681), at p. 68, thus describes the bird which is the subject of our inquiry. ‘The leg of a Dodo; called _Cygnus cucullatus_ by Nierembergius; by Clusius, _Gallus gallinaceus peregrinus_; by Bontius called _Dronte_, who saith that by some it is called (in Dutch) _Dod-aers_, largely described in Mr. Willughby’s Ornithol. out of Clusius and others. He is more especially distinguished from other birds by the membranous hood on his head, the greatness and strength of his bill, the littleness of his wings, his bunchy tail, and the shortness of his legs. Abating his head and legs, he seems to be much like an ostrich, to which also he comes near as to the bigness of his body. He breeds in Mauris’s Island. The leg here preserved is covered with a reddish-yellow scale. Not much above four inches long, yet above five in thickness, or round about the joints, wherein, though it be inferior to that of an Ostrich or Cassowary, yet, joined with its shortness, may render it of almost equal strength.’ At p. 73, there is the following notice:—‘The head of the Man of War, called also Albitrosse; supposed by some to be the head of a Dodo, but it seems doubtful. That there is a bird called the Man of War is commonly known to our seamen; and several of them who have seen the head here preserved, do affirm it to be the head of that bird, which they describe to be a very great one, the wings whereof are eight feet over. And Ligon (Hist. of Barbad. p. 61), speaking of him, saith, that he will commonly fly out to sea to see what ships are coming to land, and so return. Whereas the Dodo is hardly a volatile bird, having little or no wings, except such as those of the Cassowary and the Ostrich. Besides, although the upper beak of this bill doth much resemble that of the Dodo, yet the nether is of a quite different shape; so that this either is not the head of a Dodo, or else we have nowhere a true figure of it.’ Grew then gives a very lengthened description of the skull which is figured by him (tab. 6), and intituled ‘Head of the Albitros,’ as it doubtless was. The leg above mentioned is that now preserved in the British Museum, where it was deposited with the