222 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



they serve only to beat themselves, and flutter when 

 they call one another. 



" They will whirl about for twenty or thirty times 

 together on the same side, during the space of four 

 or five minutes. The motion of their wings makes 

 then a noise very like that of a rattle ; and one 

 may hear it two hundred paces off. The bone of 

 their wing grows greater toward the extremity, 

 and forms a little round mass under the feathers, 

 as big as a musket ball. That and its beak are the 

 chief defence of this bird. 'Tis very hard to catch 

 it in the woods, but easy in open places, because 

 we run faster than they, and sometimes we approach 

 them without much trouble. From March to Sep- 

 tember they are extremely fat, and taste admirably 

 well, especially while they are young. Some of 

 the males weigh forty-five pounds. 



"Though these birds will sometimes very 

 familiarly come up near enough to one, when we 

 do not run after them, yet they will never grow 

 tame. As soon as they are caught, they shed tears 

 without crying, and refuse all manner of sustenance 

 till they die. 



" When these birds build their nests, they choose 

 a clean place, gather together some palm-leaves for 

 that purpose, and heap them up a foot and a half 



