The Dodo and the Solitaire: A Natural History

448 Pages·2012·108.545 MB·English

by  Jolyon C. Parish

The Dodo and the Solitaire
LIFE OF THE PAST James O. Farlow, editor
T H E D O D O
A N D T H E
S O L I T A I R E
A NATUR AL HISTORY
JOLYON C. PARISH
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington & Indianapolis
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Cataloging-in-Publication Data
© 2013 by Jolyon C. Parish
Parish, Jolyon C., [date]
All rights reserved The dodo and the solitaire : a natural history
/ Jolyon C. Parish.
A list of illustration credits appears at the end p. cm. – (Life of the past)
of the book. Includes bibliographical references and
index.
No part of this book may be reproduced or ISBN 978-0-253-00099-6 (cloth : alk. pa-
utilized in any form or by any means, elec- per) – ISBN 978-0-253-00103-0 (e-book)
tronic or mechanical, including photocopying 1. Dodo. 2. Solitaire (Bird) I. Title.
and recording, or by any information storage QL696.C67P37 2013
and retrieval system, without permission in 598.9--dc23
writing from the publisher. The Association 2012023510
of American University Presses’ Resolution on
Permissions constitutes the only exception to
this prohibition. 1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 13
To
Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811–1853)
and
Alexander Gordon Melville (1819–1901)
and to
my parents

Contents C
ix Acknowledgments
xi Introduction: A Melancholy Visage
xvii Note on Translations
xix Notes on the Text
xxi List of Abbreviations
1 Written Accounts of the Dodo
3 First Encounters: Van Neck’s Account
15 ”Cermes Gaensen”: The Journals of the Gelderland
22 Reyer Cornelisz’s Account
24 Van West-Zanen’s Account
27 Matelief’s Account
28 Van der Hagen’s Account
29 Johann Verken’s Account
30 Manuel de Almeida’s Account
30 The Altham Dodo
32 The Phœnix of Mauritius: Thomas Herbert’s Account
36 The Surat Dodos
38 The “Burgemeesters” (Anonymous 1631)
39 A “strange fowle”: L’Estrange’s Dodo
41 François Cauche’s Account
44 The Batavia Dodo
45 Castaways’ Tales: The Aernhem Disaster
48 The Last Days
52 The Red Rail and the Dodo
2 Written Accounts of the Rodrigues Solitaire
55 Introduction
55 Memoirs of a Refugee: Leguat’s Account
63 Tafforet’s Account
64 Jonchée 1729
64 Gennes de la Chancelière 1733
65 D’Heguerty 1754
65 Cossigny 1755
65 Sic itur ad astra: The Visit of Alexandre-Guy Pingré
3 Contemporary Illustrations
69 Introduction
72 ”Unequalled of the Age”: Mansu¯r’s Dodo Painting (Mansu¯r)
75 The Dodo’s Portrait Painter: Roelandt Savery
87 Van der Venne’s Illustration (Van-der-Venne)
88 De Hondecoeter’s Dodo Paintings
92 Hans II Savery’s Dodo Illustrations
99 Saftleven’s Dodo Painting
99 Van den Broecke’s Dodo
101 Ruthart, Francken, and Van Thulden’s Paintings
104 The 2009 Christie’s Dodo Picture (Christie’s-Dronte)
105 Mistaken Identity: Minaggio’s Feather Picture
4 Secondary Contemporary Sources and Miscellanea
107 Clusius’s Account
113 Plinius Secundus
114 Bontius’s Account
117 Nieuhof’s Account
119 Randle Holme’s The Academy of Armory
121 Post-traumatic Reminiscences: Bontekoe’s Account
123 South American Dodos: Van Spilbergen’s Account
124 Two Mauritian “Robinsonades”: Neville and Von Grimmelshausen
125 A Troubled Afterlife: Post-contemporary Accounts
134 Naming the Dodo and Solitaire
141 Pseudodoxia Epidemica: The Réunion Dodos
164 The Dodo and the Penguin
164 The “Dodo of Vere”
165 Dodo Miscellanea
5 Anatomical Evidences
169 Introduction
178 The Prague Dodo
190 The Copenhagen Dodo Head
195 The Anatomy School Dodos
198 Petrus Pauwius’s Dodo Foot
199 The British Museum Dodo Foot
210 The Tradescant Specimen
226 Resurrection: History of Bone Discoveries (1786–Present)
6 The Natural History of the Dodo and the Solitaire
265 Description
286 Ecology
316 Classification and Taxonomy
338 Phylogenetic Placement and Evolution
355 Taphonomy
7 Afterword: Memories of Green
371 Rara Avis
375 Notes
383 Bibliography
399 Index
Acknowledgments
A
Many people have helped with this project. Where information has been
generously provided they are mentioned in the main text. I would espe-
cially like to thank Anthony Cheke, Fanny Cornuault, Errol Fuller, Owen
Griffi ths, Alan Grihault, Jan den Hengst, Julian Hume, Anwar Janoo, Ar-
turo Valledor de Lozoya, and Ralfe Whistler for assistance and scholarly
discussion over the years. I am grateful to Nick Arnold, Fred Stone, Didier
Dutheil, and Pierre Bourgault du Coudray for providing personal accounts
of their discoveries. For their generous help I would like to thank Clair
Castle, Ann Charlton, Adrian Friday, and Ray Symonds at Cambridge and
Malgosia Nowak-Kemp at Oxford. I would like to express my thanks to
Bob Sloan and the staff at Indiana University Press for all their help, and
in particular to June Silay and Raina Polivka. I am also grateful to the staff
at the British Library, NHM Libraries, Lampeter University Library, and
The Plume Library, Maldon. For all their help and support I have to thank
my parents and AEK Jan den Hengst, Anthony Cheke, Elio Corti, Birgit
Jauker, Esther van Gelder, Florike Egmond, and Arturo Valledor de Lozoya
provided assistance with translations. Jesper Düring Jørgensen, Kongelige
Bibliotek, kindly provided a facsimile extract of Paludanus’s 1617–1618 MS.
Arthur MacGregor, Hanneke Meijer, and Greg Middleton read through
draft sections. I would like to thank Paul Barrett for suggesting, and putting
me in contact with, Indiana University Press. The title of the afterword was
borrowed from Vangelis (Blade Runner soundtrack, 1994; See You Later,
1980). An anonymous reviewer provided helpful comments and corrections
on the book manuscript, and Dawn Ollila copyedited the text and gave
helpful input.
ix