Image: Jacht op dodo's door Willem van West-Zanen uit 1602

Description: A hunt on dodos for food. The text with the engraving reads: Nourishment men seek here and flesh of't plumed creatures Of the palm trees' sap, the dodos round of hinds All while men the parrot hold that he pipes and shrieks And cause that others besides also befall the coops An engraving the publisher H. Soete Boom had made for the journal of Willem Van West-Zanen (c 1602) showing the killing of dodos (center left, depicted as penguin-like), a seacow (Dugong dugong, now extinct from the area) and perhaps Thirioux’s grey parrot (Psittacula bensoni, bottom).[1] Travellers on Mauritius described how easy it was to catch the parrot by capturing one and making it call out, which would summon an entire flock, and this is shown in the drawing. Willem van West-Zanen recalls in his travel report that his men took 50 birds aboard in one day, among which were 24 or 25 dodos, which in his estimation were sufficiently large that only two sufficed to feed the whole crew.[2]
Title: Jacht op dodo's door Willem van West-Zanen uit 1602
Credit: The history of the Dodo Raphus cucullatus and the penguin of Mauritius, Julian P. Hume, Historical Biology, 2006; 18(2): 65–89
Author: Unknown, was published alongside the journal of Willem van Westsanen
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No