The Nicobar Pigeon (34 cm), the closest living relative of the Dodo (100 cm), is a wary bird capable of hiding its head within its long neck hackles. It forages among fallen leaves on the forest floor of small tropical islets.

The Dodo head in this drawing is based on a lithograph from The Dodo and its Kindred (Strickland, H.E. and A.G. Melville, 1848, London). The preserved head (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) is from a specimen that had been tagged for “destruction” in 1755 under an Ashmolean guideline stating that old and “perishing” specimens should be replaced. Replacement, however, would have proven impossible; all subsequent Dodo “specimens” are fakes.