Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/183

 DODINGTON is undulating or nearly level prairie, and the soil fertile. The Winona and St. Peter railroad crosses it, and the Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- road touches the S. W. corner. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 634,741 bushels of wheat, 81,277 of Indian corn, 384,528 of oats, 47,150 of barley, 36,569 of potatoes, 19,863 tons of hay, 27,667 Ibs. of butter, and 20,808 of wool. There were 2,877 horses, 3,208 milch cows, 4,659 other cattle, 5,889 sheep, and 2,824 swine; 7 flour mills, 1 saw mill, 1 manufactory of furniture, 4 of carriages, 1 of agricultural implements, and 1 brewery. Capital, Mantor- ville. IV. An E. central county of Nebraska, bounded S. by the Platte river, and intersected by the Elkhorn ; area, about 600 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 4,212. The surface is level and the soil fertile. The Union Pacific railroad passes through the S. part. The chief productions in 1870 were 86,181 bushels of wheat, 123,466 of Indian corn, 116,252 of oats, and 13,927 of potatoes. There were 1,382 horses, 1,264 milch cows, 2,025 other cattle, and 2,386 swine. Capital, Tremont. DODINGTON, Georgfe Bnbb, Baron Melcombe, an English politician, born in Dorsetshire in 1691, died July 28, 1762. He was educated at Ox- ford, and in 1715 was chosen to parliament for Winchelsea. His talents soon attracted atten- tion, and after accompanying Sir Paul Methuen to Madrid, he was made envoy extraordinary to Spain, returning in 1717. On the death of his uncle George Dodington in 1720, he came into possession of a large estate in Dorsetshire, took the name of Dodington, and erected at the cost of 140,000 a magnificent residence, where he entertained the leading literary men of the time. In politics he was a whig, and joined himself to Walpole; but when that minister refused him a peerage, he joined the opposi- tion. Resuming his relations with Walpole, he received several valuable appointments; but again joining the opposition, he was con- spicuous in the assaults on Walpole's ministry which resulted in its overthrow, and was after some time made treasurer of the navy. Again changing his views, he joined the faction of Frederick, prince of Wales, in 1749, and received from him the promise of a peerage and a cabi- net office, to be conferred when the prince should become king. The prince and Doding- ton settled the former's first ministry ; but in the midst of their scheming the prince sud- denly died. In 1755 he was once more ap- pointed treasurer of the navy, but soon lost the office. In 1761 he obtained the object of his life, being made Baron Melcombe of Mel- combe Regis, through the favor of Lord Bute. This^success he did not live long to enjoy, and on his death the title became extinct. His es- tates fell to Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, and his personal property was bequeathed to Thomas Wyndham, whose relative, Henry P. Wyndham, published Dodington's "Diary" in 1784. This diary was kept, with some breaks, from March 8, 1749, to Feb. 6, 1761, and af- 268 VOL. vi. 12 DODO 175 fords a lively picture of the parties, politics, and public men of the last years of George II.'s reign, of the political corruption of the time, and of that of the author himself. Several of the author's political papers are attached to it. The volume has been frequently reprinted. DODO (didus ineptus, Linn.), a large bird of the island of Mauritius, at present placed in a subfamily of the order columbce, or pigeons. It has become extinct within two centuries. It was discovered by Vasco da Gama in 1497, and was mentioned by various voyagers, from Jacob van Neck and Wybrand van Warwijk in 1598, to Captain Talbot in 1697. In the work of Strickland and Melville on " The Do- dp and its Kindred " (4to, London, 1848) are given many quaint descriptions and figures of the bird, which it appears was not uncommon in the 17th century, and was frequently used as food by the crews of vessels. In 1638 Fran- cois Cauche says that he saw in Mauritius birds "larger than a swan, covered with a black down, with curled feathers on the rump, The Dodo (Didus ineptus). and similar ones in place of wings; that the beak was large and curved, the legs scaly, the nest made of herbs heaped together ; that they lay but one egg of the size of a halfpenny roll or that of a pelican, and that the young ones had a stone in the gizzard." In the same year a living specimen was exhibited in Lon- don, and described by Sir Hamon Lestrange as a "great fowle, somewhat bigger than the largest turkey cock, and so legged and footed, but stouter and thicker and of a more erect shape, colored before like the breast of a young fesan, and the back of dun or deare color." In 1644 the Dutch began to colonize the island, and these birds were soon exterminated by the colonists, and by the dogs, cats, and rats, which devoured the eggs and the young in the nests ; after the French took possession in 1715 the dodo is no longer mentioned as a living bird. This is a most remarkable and clearly proved instance of the extinction of an animal by human agency ; and as yet the data for determining the species are less than