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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1915)
1 1 . ' i . ' ' - r - " , 1 THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNINQ, NOVEMBER 21, 1711 3id Wi But YouVe Relished - - " " ' IP ' Wartt y It" 71 wr i Skeleton . of the Dodo From Bones Found on the Island of Mauritius. Many a Morsel of White and Dark Meat j From This Prehistoric FowFs Great- Great-Great-Grandson and You'll Enjoy Some More Next Thursday. Science Has Made Some Remarkable New Discoveries About the Turkey and, Just Think of It, He Isn't an V American Bird After All! , O, YOU haven't sat down to a dodo din ner ; that is, .not un less you are a Mauritian 235 years old. Don't be humili ated on that aj count, howevef . N You have eaten his descendant many times. If Dr. T. Ahmstead Savage, F. R. Q. S., is right Yes, sir, turkey, the traditional bird of America, is not American, the explorer Bays. The great "Thanksgiving bird" has nothing of which to be proud in his an cestry ; he cornea from the dodo, the most foolish and inane bird that ever laid an egg. Maybe the bird wont taste so well truly colossal dimensions, comparatively speaking, for they were sometimes twelve feet in height." For ten years the doctor, who is noted for his explorations In Madagascar, has been looking up the lineage of the turkey. In carrying on this work he haa been ably assisted by his wife, Mrs. Lois Savage. They have traveled all around the world In making their investigations. Relatives. Dr. Savage and his wife remained in China almost a year studying birds and fowl there with relation to a possible con nection with the turkey tribe. Then they went to the Island of Borneo, to Japan, and finally came to this country. Here they observed farmyard turkeys for sev eral months, and finally went to the Amerl- big feet and savage ways that lived in New Zealand about 250 years ago. The moa and the dodo became extinct almost at the same' time. Scientists have been unable to explain this ca lamitous ' coincidence. Laymen who have given it feathery con sideration hint that perhaps the moas and dodos met unexpect- i --W'M-T jW v ;i- ;--A MfMi) iPB4 - ' jwgs i, ; q jf000 The Dodo, Great-Great-Great-Grand- wftSSU' 2$'S father of the Turkey, as Jt Has Been I ' l?-""' Restored in the American Museum1 - of Natural History, New York. 4''y- y f1 "v t ... . - i ii i ii r ' , 1 pit" SSB laMSiwwswiilMii ii ii ' --'s533Sfr' f wsu.' m'lUMh i w ii'icssflsMfc V Passers y Halcyon 1 M E x ic an Wild Tupe v 1 j COLU iii. JC T H - OLU NA V I " FALCON ES Tf W" " lilS?! 1 " : ESS How "Birds' Peerage" Traces the Ancestry of the Turkey. after this, but the chances are you will for get all about the ugly -dodo when the holi day carving begins. Dr. Savage of Melbourne, Australia, is not alone In his connection of the turkey with the dodo. In 1638 Sir Hamon Le strange told of seeing a great bird on exhi bition in a London side show and that it was "somewhat bigger than the largest turkey cock and so legged and footed, but shorter and thicker." Dr. Savage also attempts to trace the turkey's antecedents to the Moa, the ex tinct bird of New Zealand, which resem . Med the dodo In many particulars. The Encyclopedia Britannica says in describ ing the ancient bird: "Soma were of can Museum of Natural History in New York, where they completed their task. One of the greatest aids to Dr. Savage at the American Museum were two figures of the dodo, a bird which became extinct 230 years ago and is generally believed to have been a myth, although science has proved beyond a doubt that it existed on the Island of Mauritius and was one of the silliest birds that ever drew breath through a bilL The dodo, according to Dr. Savage, was the great-great-great-grandmother of our American turkey. Such being the case, who was the great-great-great-grandfather? "Why, the moa!" says Dr. Savage. Know what a moa is, or rather, "was"? A moa was a bird with The Moa'a Egg,. The Moa Was Also an Ancestor of Our Thanksgiving Bird. edly, looked at each other and then decided there wasn't any use living longer. However, their descendants were fairly sane In appearance, and bo they went on living and multiplying with variable re sults till the 6tock twisted itself Into that of the pheasant .family, and from the pheasant family trotted the turkey tribe. Advances Remarkable Theory. It is a remarkable theory which Dr. Sarage advances one that will come as a distinct shock at this time of the year to those good Americans who sit at the fes tive board and discuss turkey as "the great American dish." Before sailing for En rope on the steamship Lapland Oct. 20 Dr. Sarage unfolded bis theory and presented his alleged proofs of it at a dinner given In his honor In Mew York City by Dr. H. 8. The Smallest Egg Is a Chicken's, Behind It Is the Moa'a. Next to the Right Is an Ostrich Egg and on the Extreme Right Is the Egg of the Aepyomis, an Extinct Ancestor of the Moa and Dodo. Lee, a prominent author ity on Chinese ornithology. "It is generally conced ed," he said at the dinner, "that the pheasant family includes the turkey under the name 'meleagrlnae,' which includes, among oth ers, the Mexican wild tur key, known as the imme diate ancestor of the Amer ican domestic turkey. It is in tracing back the pheas ant that we reach the interesting great-great-great-grandparents of the turkey. "To understand my theory thoroughly it is first necessary to take a map of the world. Tliere place a finger on Brazil. Then glance over to Africa. You win see an Indentation extending to French Equa torial Africa. Now, Imagine that In some early period of the earth's existence South America and Africa were ne continent. "This, of course. Is a well-known theory. Let us, then, go still farther. Study Aus tralia carefully. Look at New Zealand. See how It would fit snugly against Aus tralia, from Brisbane on down below Cape Howe. Next take Australia from Cape Bougainville on down to Northwest Cape and put It against the east coast of Africa', from Italian Somaliland to Zanzibar. "Following out the generally accepted theory that South America and Africa once were one continent, let us go farther and assume that Australia and New Zea land were a part of the continent In a prehistoric upheaval they were separated. Before the separation occurred, however, the moas and the dodos lived -together se renely. "When the break took place, according to ornithological observations I have made, the immediate predecessor of the turkey re mained on the South American continent. There was a better development of the turkey remaining In Australia and New Zealand. Along with it remained the moa, and on the Island of Mauritius was- the weird dodo. It had found a mate in the moa, only to lose him, but the offspring of the moa and dodo was the genuine tur key strain. Indeed, turkeys lived in New Zealand along with the moas. These last birds, by the way, were of varying sizes, some being no larger than the turkey and others grow ing to a height of fourteen feet Now, It is perfectly plain to me that the original turkey lived in Australia, Africa and New Zealand ; that the pheasant went to South America, and there, through natural selec tion, the Mexican turkey was evolved. This in turn became the American turkey. "Great American Bird." "The first bird known to science is the archaeopteryx, which lived in the cretace ous age. After this came the hesperornls, a two-legged creature that was amphibious and lived chiefly on fish. The archaeop teryx and the hesperornls are the only birds we know of that had teeth. "Their offspring was the apteryx, or kiwi. After the kiwi came the moa and dodo and finally the pheasant and turkey. There is your 'birds' peerage.' or blrd tree,' or whatever yon choose to call It I am willing to stake my reputation against that of any ornithologist fir the world that I am correct Assuming, therefore, that I am correct. It is untrue and unfair to say that the turkey is the 'great American bird.' It is nothing of the kind. It really Is a bird that belongs to Africa and Aus tralia." Professor Savage was greatly inter ested In a skeleton and a restored figure of the dodo which have Just been pot on ex hibition in the . American Museum. The skeleton is the first of its kind erer-MUt hooW nnsyl to this country. The only others like It are In the British Museum, Oxford and! Cambridge universities and Utrecht The bird Is the gift of Walter Winans of thai Baltimore family of that name, who now lives in Surrenden Park, England. Of course, as the dodo became extlncflj 230 years ago, the specimens at the Ameri can museum are restorations. Skull tod legs were cast from original parts thafr were saved by early voyagers to ths Island) of Mauritius. The dodo had a huge, blac lsh bill, terminating in a horny cheeks partly bare; thick, short ck yellow legs and feet ah-colored plnmageit stumpy wings unfit for flying, and a shorn tail of white, curled feathers. It looked? like a mammoth pigeon and was a boot4 half the size again of a turkey. Bird Proved to Be Good Mixexv . When the Potognee discovered Mmrrt tins In 15X17 there were plenty of dodos ox , the island. The bird showed sach a socia ble disposition that the voyagers named lb "dnodo," meaning "simpleton." The moas are one of the most Interest lng groups of ornithology for the reason that they fill the gap between the modem' birds and those of prehistoric times; also! because they are the biggest feathered1 birds, and therefore originally frying blrds' The hind toe, the shape of the legs anft other characteristics similar to the pigeon! and the turkey show that the -relation off i great-grea test-grandfather is no dream, and the same reasoning applies to the dodo. They laid but one egg, in which respect their descendants, the pheasants .and the turkeys, thow more progrenHlveness, unkm the size Is considered, when It will be seen that the net result Is about the same in weight As for the m'oa's eggs proper, before the crossing with the dodo, those of the great est? of the moas, known as the "aeplor nlthes," are among the marvels of the past, one of which, found In Madagascar, and now In the collection of a private Individ ual, a resident of Orange, N. holds mora than two gallons and is as bulky ae ICO hens' eggs rolled into one. Such facts have a tendency to support the stories of Marco Polo, one of which was that he presented! the Great Kahn of the Tartars several nun, dred vears ago with' a feather of a bird oft Madagascar "9 spans long and 2 psJam wide.-
