He used to preserve his own
specimens; and there could be no motive at that period for a
fabrication. I had hoped to have found some notice of it in the
_Diary_ of that worthy virtuoso Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach, who
visited the Ashmolean Museum in 1710; but though he notices other
natural curiosities, there is no mention of it. This worthy remarks on
the slovenly condition and inadequate superintendence of our museums,
and especially of that of Gresham College; but those who recollect
the state of our great national museum forty years since will not be
surprised at this, or at the calamitous destruction of Tradescant's
specimen of the Dodo. That the bird was extinct above 150 years ago I
think we may conclude from the notices I have extracted from La Roque,
and the letter of the Jesuit Brown. Mr. Strickland has done good
service to the cause of natural science by his monograph of this very
curious subject; and to him every particle of information must be
acceptable: this must be my excuse for the almost nothing I have been
able to contribute.
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