Raphus cucullatus
Four accounts · 1605–1651
“After I had written down the history of this bird as well as I could, I happened to see in the house of Peter Pawius, Professor of Medicine in the University of Leyden, a leg cut off at the knee, and recently brought from Mauritius.”
English: Strickland & Melville, 1848, p. 125 ↗.
| Place | Leiden · specimen from Mauritius |
|---|---|
| Subject | A leg in Pieter Pauw’s collection |
| Language | Latin / English |
“Her visage darts forth melancholy, as sensible of Natures injurie, in framing so great a body, to be guided with complementall wings, so small and impotent, that they serue only to proue her Bird.”
Herbert, 1634, p. 211
| Place | Mauritius |
|---|---|
| Subject | Description and engraving |
| Language | English |
“About 1638, as I walked London streets, I saw the picture of a strange fowle hong out upon a cloth, [hiatus in the MS.] and myselfe with one or two more then in company went in to see it.”
Strickland & Melville, 1848, p. 22
| Place | London · captive bird |
|---|---|
| Subject | A captive bird in London |
| Language | English |
“They only lay one egg which is white, the size of a halfpenny roll, by the side of which they place a white stone the size of a hen’s egg. They lay on grass which they collect, and make their nests in the forests; if one kills the young one, a grey stone is found in the gizzard. We call them Oiseaux de Nazaret. The fat is excellent to give ease to the muscles and nerves.”
English: Strickland & Melville, 1848, p. 126 ↗.
| Place | Mauritius |
|---|---|
| Subject | Eggs and nests · disputed identification |
| Language | French / English |
Illustrations in the 1605 and 1634 editions.
Four records with transcriptions and page scans.
Dodo leg examined in Leiden; Latin text and English translation.
Dodo description and illustration in the 1634 edition.
Account of a captive dodo in London, about 1638.
Mauritius birds, eggs, and nests; French text and English translation.