The Dodo and the Solitaire
A Natural History
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
This account of two extinct bird species offers "an amazing amount of history, references, facts, maps, and illustrations" (Library Journal).
The Dodo and the Solitaire is the most comprehensive book to date about these two famously extinct birds. It contains all the known contemporary accounts and illustrations of the dodo and solitaire, covering their history after extinction and discussing their ecology, classification, phylogenetic placement, and evolution.
Both birds were large and flightless and lived on inhabited islands some five hundred miles east of Madagascar. The first recorded descriptions of the dodo were provided by Dutch sailors who encountered them in 1598—and within a century, the dodo was extinct. So quickly did the bird disappear that there is insufficient evidence to form an entirely accurate picture of its appearance and ecology, and the absence has led to much speculation. This extraordinary book pieces together the story of these two lost species from the fragments that have been left behind.
"An up-to-date and comprehensive review of everything we know about the dodo and solitaire." —Journal of Verterbrate Paleontology
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Parish gathers the meager scientific records available on the Dodo and the Solitaire, adding fragments from other disciplines to flesh out an ever-incomplete picture of these extinct, flightless birds. In the process, he demonstrates how history, anatomy, ecology, art, and literature all contribute to researching the natural history of a species. The first two chapters feel cumbersome, composed primarily of lists of facts with annotations taken from written accounts of past explorers. Parish shares a rare opinion in chapter three, noting how discrepancies across available illustrations and visual models aide in the determination of a species' real physical characteristics. He then presents actual anatomical evidence for the existence of Dodos and Solitaires, including the locations of bone discoveries. A summary of the natural history of the two birds follows, with Parish outlining the variability in opinions on wing anatomy, plumage, internal organs, and even the birds' edibility. The book, a welcome volume for aficionados, is organized as a record of recollections, part-remembrances, facts, and fictions, but a number of references to written accounts and prior research interrupt the flow. 20 color, 200 b&w illus.
