popular Bfcttonari) at &mmatrtr $atur*. 183 



The BLACK-THROATED DIVER (Colymbus 

 arcticus) differs in plumage from the last 

 described, and is rather larger. The bill 

 and front of the neck are black ; the liind 

 part of the head and neck are cinereous ; the 

 sides of the neck are marked with black and 

 white lines, and the fore part is of a glossy 

 variable purple, black, and green. The 

 back, the scapulars, and the coverts of the 

 wings are black ; the two former being 

 marked with square, and the latter with 

 round white spots : quills dusky ; tail black ; 

 legs dark, and reddish on the inside. Like 

 the preceding, this bird is common in all the 

 Arctic regions ; and in its winter migrations 

 it visits England, Germany, and Holland. 

 Their skins are dressed, and made into caps, 

 hoods, &c., and are much esteemed as a co- 

 vering for the head and breast in the rigor- 

 ous climates in which these birds are found, 

 the great thickness of the feathers rendering 

 them very fit for that purpose. 



DOBCHICK, or DIDAPPER. (Podtceps 

 minor. ) A Palmipede bird of the Grebe kind. 

 It seldom exceeds six ounces in weight : the 

 beak is short, large at the base, and tapering 

 to the point : the head is thickly clothed 

 with downy feathers, which it can puff up 

 at pleasure ; the eyes are large, the wings 

 small, and it has no tail. Its plumage on 

 the back is of a deep blackish brown colour, 

 and white on the belly. It moves with more 

 facility under the water than on its-surface, 

 and raises itself from that element with great 

 difficulty ; but when once on the wing, it is 

 capable of continuing its flight for a consi- 

 derable time. " Ornithologists and sports- 

 men describe the nest of this bird as being of 

 a large size, and composed of a very great 

 quantity of grass and water-plants, at least 

 a foot in thickness, and so placed in the water 

 that the female hatches her eggs amidst the 

 continual wet, in which they were first laid : 

 and it is conjectured that the natural warmth 

 of her body occasions a fermentation of the 

 herbage, which greatly aids the incubation. 

 She lays from four to six eggs, of a yellowish 

 dull white, and is said to cover them up with 

 the surrounding leaves every time she has 

 occasion to stir abroad." (Bewick.) There 

 are several other species of the Dobchick ; as 

 the Horned, the Eared, the Black and White 

 Dobchick, &c. ; all of which are larger than 

 the one here described. [See GKEUE.] 



DODO. A large and most unwieldy bird, 

 generally supposed to be extinct, and whose 

 very existence at any period has been doubt- 

 ed. But as there are accounts of it in the 

 works of more than one naturalist, and as 

 it is described most minutely, it behoves us 

 to collect the best information of it we can 

 find. The Dodo is stated to be a native of 

 the Mauritius, or Isle of France ; and the 

 Dutch, who first discovered it there, are said 

 to have termed it the nauseous bird, as well 

 from its disgusting figure, as from the dis- 

 agreeable taste of its flesh. Its appearance, 

 instead of giving one an idea of swiftness, 

 the common attribute of birds in general, 

 seems to strike the imagination as something 

 the most unwieldy and inactive in nature. 

 Its massive and almost globular body, which 



is covered in general with grey feathers, is 

 barely supported on two clumsy legs ; while 

 its head and neck rise from it in .a manner 

 truly grotesque. The neck, thick and pursy 

 in itself, is surmounted by a head composed 

 of two enormous mandibles, opening far be- 

 hind the eyes, which are large, black, and 

 prominent ; so that the huge bird, in gaping, 



HEAD AND FOOT OF DODO 

 (DIDDS INEPTUS.) 



exhibits a most enormous mouth : hence the 

 bill is of an extraordinary length, thick, 

 sharp at the end, and having each chap 

 crooked in opposite directions ; and the two 

 mandibles, which are of a bluish-white co- 

 lour, in some measure resemble two spoons 

 laid back to back. The Dodo seems to be 

 so weighed down by its own gravity, as 

 scarcely to possess strength sufficient to give 

 energy to its motions ; and it appears among 

 the feathered tribe what the Sloth does 

 among quadrupeds, an unresisting creature, 

 equally incapable of flight or defence. Its 

 wings are covered with soft ash-coloured 

 feathers, intermixed with a yellowish-white, 

 but they are too short to render it any es- 

 sential service in flying : its tail is composed 

 of a few small curled feathers of a light 

 ash-colour; its legs are too short to assist 

 it in running ; and its body is exceedingly 

 clumsy. From all that can be gathered con- 

 cerning this obscurely known bird, it would 

 seem that the species has entirely disap- 

 peared ; and we now possess no more of it 

 at the present day than a foot preserved in 

 the British Museum, and a head and foot in 

 bad condition at the Ashmolean Museum in 

 Oxford Dr. Melville has written, in con- 

 junction with Mr. Strickland, an elaborate 

 memoir on this bird, which they believe to 

 have been a Pigeon somewhat allied to tho 

 genus TREROJT. This memoir, or part of it, 

 which embraces the history of the SOLITAIRE, 

 was read at the meeting of the British As- 

 sociation at Oxford, 1847. It has been pub- 

 lished, with most exquisitely accurate en- 

 gravings from the pencils of Ford and Dinkel. 

 In the British Museum there is a painting 

 believed to be a representation of this bird ; 

 and in the same case are casts from the Oxford 

 remains, and other casts throwing light on 

 'to history. It is a bird which would appear 



c. 2 



