I have to thank "Mr. S.W. SINGER" (No. 22. p. 353.) for giving some interesting replies to my "Dodo Queries" (No. 17. p. 261.). I trust that Mr. S. will be induced to pursue the inquiry further, and especially to seek for some _Portuguese_ account of the Mascarene Islands, prior to the Dutch expedition of 1598. I am now able to state that the supposed proof of the discovery of Bourbon by the Portuguese in 1545, on the authority of a stone pillar, the figure of which Leguat has copied {411} from Du Qesne, who copied it from Flacourt, turns out to be inaccurate. On referring to Flacourt's _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_, 4to., Paris, 1658, p. 344, where the original figure of this monument is given, I find that the stone was not found in Bourbon at all, but in "l'Islet des Portugais," a small island at the mouth of the river Fanshere (see Flacourt, p. 32.), near the S.E. extremity of Madagascar. From this place Flacourt removed it to the neighbouring settlement of Fort Dauphin in 1653, and engraved the arms of France on the opposite side to those of Portugal. We are therefore still without any historical record of the first discovery of Bourbon and Mauritius, though, from the unanimous consent of later compilers, we may fairly presume that the Portuguese were the discoverers. The references which Mr. Singer has given to two works which mention the _Oiseau bleu_ of Bourbon, are very important, as the only other known authority for this extinct bird is the MS. Journal of Sieur D.B., which thus receives full confirmation. May I ask Mr. Singer whether either of these writers mentions the _Solitaire_ as inhabiting Bourbon? The "Oiseaux appelez _Flamands_" quoted by Mr. S., are merely _Flamingos_, and are devoid of interest as regards the present question. The history of the Dodo's head at Copenhagen, referred to by Mr. Singer, is fully recorded in the _Dodo and its Kindred_, pp. 25. 33. The name _Dodo_ seems to have been first applied to the bird by Sir Thomas Herbert, in 1634, who adds, in his edition of 1638, "a Portuguese name it is, and has reference to her simpleness." Before that time the Dutch were in the habit of calling it _Dodars_, _Dodaers_, _Toters_, and _Dronte_. I had already made the same guesses at the etymology of these words as those which Mr. Singer has suggested, but not feeling fully satisfied with them, I put forth my Query VII. for the chance of obtaining some further elucidation. Mr. Singer's reasonings on the improbability of Tradescant's specimen of the Dodo having been a fabrication are superfluous, seeing that the head and foot of this individual are, as is well known, still in existence, and form the subjects of six plates in the _Dodo and its Kindred_.