, in Bontekoc, and in Bontius, of all
which I have published fac-similes?

_Query IV_.--Are there any _original_ authors who mention the Dodo
as a living bird, besides Van Neck, Clusius, Heemskerk, Willem van
West-Zanen, Matelief, Van der Hagen, Verhuffen, Van den Broecke,
Bontekoe, Herbert, Cauche, Lestrange, and Benjamin Harry? Or any
authority for the _Solitaire_ of Rodriguez besides Leguat and
D'Heguerty; or for the Dodo-like birds of Bourbon besides Castelton,
Carre Sieur D.B., and Billiard?

_Query V_--In Rees' _Cyclopaeia_, article BOURBON, we are told that
in that island there is "a kind of large bat, denominated _l'Oiseau
bleu_, which are skinned and eaten as a great delicacy." Where did the
compiler of the article pick up this statement?

_Query VI_.--Is there in existence any figure, published or
unpublished, of the Dodo-like bird which once inhabited the Isle of
Bourbon?

_Query VII_--What is the derivation or meaning of the words _Dodaers_
and _Dronte_, as applied to the Dodo?

_Query VIII_.--Sir Hamon Lestrange has recorded that about 1638 he
saw a living Dodo exhibited in London. (See _Sloane MSS_. 1839, v. p.
9. in Brit. Mus.; Wilkin's ed. of _Sir T. Browne's Works_, vol. i. p.
369.; vol. ii, p. 173.; _The Dodo and its Kindred_, p. 22.) Is there
any contemporary notice extant in print or in MS. which confirms this
statement? A splendidly bound copy of _The Dodo and its Kindred_ will
be given to any one who can answer this query affirmatively.

_Query IX_.--In Holme's _Academy of Armory and Blazou_, Chester, 1688,
p. 289, we find a Dodo figured as an heraldic device, a fac-simile of
which is given in the _Annals of Natural History_, 2nd series, vol.
iii. p. 260. The author thus describes it: "He beareth Sable a _Dodo_
or _Dronte_ proper. By the name of _Dronte_. This exotic bird doth
equal a swan in bigness," &c. &c. Now I wish to ask, where did this
family of _Dronte_ reside? Is anything known concerning them? How did
they come by these arms? and are any members of the family now living?

_Query X._--From a passage in the _Histoire de l'Academie Royale des
Sciences_, 1776, p. 37, it appears that Pingre the French astronomer,
published, or at least wrote, a relation of his voyage to Rodriguez,
in which he speaks of _Solitaires_. Is this the fact? and if so, what
is the title of his work?

H.E. STRICKLAND.

* * * * *

ON PASSAGES IN COLERIDGE'S CHRISTADEL AND BYR