Didus cucullatus (Didus and Raphus being names for the dodo genus used by different authors of the time). The Dodo is an extinct flightless bird. Its external appearance is evidenced only by paintings and written accounts from the 17th century. Because these vary considerably, and because only a few sketches are known to have been drawn from live specimens, its exact appearance in life remains a mystery, and little is known with about its habitat and behavior Roughly the size of a swan, it was heavily-built, flightless and clumsy. Two species were known with certainty: the common dodo Raphus cucullatus from Mauritius which became extinct between 1665 and 1670, and the Rodriguez solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) from the neighboring island of Rodriguez, which died out around 1761. The dodo's numbers quickly dwindled following the arrival of humans to these isolated habitats. All but defenseless these birds were ill-equipped to cope with the new hunters and the competition from other introduced animal species. The Dodo achieved widespread recognition from its role in the story of Alice in Wonderland. Taken from "Extinct birds : an attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times : that is, within the last six or seven hundred years : to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction" by Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, 1907.