3-011-804 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Rare birds From Navigators' Islands: the Didunculus strigirostris or tooth-billed pigeon, 1864. Engraving from a drawing by E. Thomas. 'A notice of this singular bird, which had been considered nearly extinct, will, no doubt, be of interest to ornithologists...The didunculus has a very limited range of habitation. It has only been found in the Samoan or Navigators' Islands. It received the generic name of didunculus, or Little Dodo, from its resemblance to that celebrated extinct bird the Dodo, like which, the didunculus combines in its form the character of a rapacious bird with that of the harmless pigeon. In the contour of the bill, the form and position of the nostrils, and several other characteristics, the didunculus differs from any other living species at present known; and although a small bird in size, it approximates the nearest in all its characters to the gigantic dodo...It is named by the natives of the Navigators' Islands Manu Mea, or Red Bird, the predominant colour of its plumage being chocolate red...When any person approached their cage the birds uttered a deep guttural growl, frequently repeated, and often followed by a vibration of the whole body, from the head to the tail, with a plaintive note of ''Yoo, yoo, yoo." From "Illustrated London News", 1864.