The New Student's Reference Work/Dodo
(From painting in the Belvedere, Vienna.)
Dodo, a bird of curious and ungainly form, extinct since the close of the 17th century. The dodo was a large, clumsy bird weighing from forty to fifty pounds, found only on the islands of Mauritius, Bourbon and Rodrigues. By its structure it was related to the living pigeons. It had a round, fat body, a tail consisting of a few curly feathers, a large head and an enormous bill, the upper part of which was hooked over the lower. Having very imperfect wings, it was unable to fly and was killed by the sailors in large numbers for food. After dogs and hogs were introduced into the islands, about 1644, they began killing the young of the dodo and thereby hastened its extermination. A living dodo was in London in 1638, and was sketched by a number of artists.