192 



dTrraSxtrj) at Batumi 



for worms, while the Dory lies concealed 

 among sea-weeds, &c., waiting for its prey. 

 It w a native of the Indian seas. [See ZEUS.] 



DOTTEREL. (Characlrius morineJhis.) 

 This Grallatorial bird is about ten inches in 

 length: the beak black, slender, and one inch 

 long : forehead mottled with dusky and grey; 

 the hinder part of the head is black ; and a 

 broad white line over the eyes surrounds the 

 whole. The back and wings are a light 

 brown ; the breast is a pale dull orange ; the 

 middle of the belly is black ; the edges of 

 the feathers are pale rust colour, and the 

 lower part of the back and rump incline to 

 gray. The tail is composed of twelve brown 

 olive-coloured feathers, barred with black 

 near the ends, and tipped with white : the 

 thighs are a reddish white, and the legs 

 black. The female is rather larger, and the 

 colours more dull ; the white line over the 

 eye is smaller ; and the crown of the head 

 is mottled with brown and white. Dotterels 

 inhabit the northern parts of Asia and Eu- 

 rope, frequenting the muddy borders of 

 rivers : they are migratory, being seen on 

 our moors and downs in their nights to and 

 from their breeding-places, from April to 

 June, and again from September to Novem- 

 ber. Being fresh from regions and wilds 

 untrodden by man, and not having expe- 

 rienced persecution, they do not so readily 

 take alarm, as other birds do which have 

 been reared in the vicinity of their general 

 enemy : they have, in consequence, obtained 

 the character of being very stupid birds, and, 

 it is said, may be taken by the most simple 

 artifice ; but night-fowling, and all modes 

 of ensnaring them, have yielded to the more 

 certain method of bring them down with a 

 gun. 



DOTTEREL, SEA. [See TURNSTONE.] 

 DOVE. [See PIGEON : KINO-DOVE : TUK- 



TLE-DOVE.] 



DRAGON. (Draco volans.) Instead of 

 the formidable monster of this name, which 

 recals to the imagination the wild fictions of 

 romance, the animal we are about to describe 

 is a small and harmless lizard, agreeing in 

 the general form of its body with the rest of 

 that tribe ; but furnished with large, ex- 

 pansile, cutaneous processes, which, when 

 expanded, enable it to support itself in the 

 air for a few seconds, in springing from 

 branch to branch, among the lofty trees in 

 which it resides. The total length of this 

 highly curious creature is about ten or twelve 

 inches ; the tail being extremely long in 

 proportion to the body, which is not above 

 four inches. The head is of a moderate size, 

 but very singular form, being furnished be- 

 iieath with a very large triple pouch, one 

 part of which descends beneath the throat, 

 while the two remaining parts project on 

 each side ; all being sharp-pointed : the 

 mouth is rather wide ; the tongue large, and 

 thick at the base ; the teeth small and nu- 

 merous ; the neck, body, and limbs rather 

 slender, and covered with small acuminated 

 and closely set scales. The colour of this 

 animal on the upper parts is an elegant pale 



blue, or bluish-grey, the back and tail being 

 marked by several transverse dusky undu- 

 lations, while the wings are very elegantly 

 spotted with patches of black, brown, and 



BBA.OON. (DRACO PIMBRIATI;S ) 



white : the border of the wings is also white, 

 and the whole under surface of the animal 

 is of a verv pale or whitish brown colour. 

 Species of this genus are Inhabitant! of many 

 parts of Asia, Africa, and South America; 

 they feed on insects ; and are in every respect 

 animals of a harmless nature. 



All the frightful animals described and 

 figured in the works of some of the older 

 naturalists, under the name of Dragons, are 

 merely fictitious beings, either artificially 

 composed of the skins of different animals, 

 or made by warping some particular species 

 of the ray or skate tribe into a dragon-like 

 shape, by expanding and drying the fins in 

 an elevated position, adding the legs of 

 birds, &c., and otherwise disguising the ani- 

 mals. Such also are the monstrous repre- 

 sentations (to be found in Gesner and Aldro- 

 vandus) of a seven-headed Dragon, with 

 gaping mouths, long body, snake-like necks 

 and tail, and feet resembling those of birds. 

 Some of the dragons of antiquity are de- 

 scribed as having no feet, but as crawling 

 like serpents, and their bodies covered with 

 scales, and so powerful as to crush an ele- 

 phant with the greatest ease. The animal 

 which gave rise to these is probably no other 

 than the great Boa Constrictor. Again, who 

 has not heaid of the fabled Dragon of the 

 middle ages, which had the feet of a lion, 

 the long thick tail of a serpent, and an im- 

 mense throat, from which streamed flames 

 of fire ? This dragon played a distinguished 

 part in the days of chivalry ; and was one of 

 those monsters whom it was the business of 

 the heroes of romance to attack and destroy. 

 We have, involuntarily as it were, been led 

 to notice the fabulous history of the Dragon, 

 iu order to point out the gross absurdities 

 connected with Natural History, which, 

 though long since exploded, were at one 

 period received as matters of fact. 



DOUC. (Semnopithecits.) A genus of Mon- 

 keys peculiar to Cochin China, the East 

 Indies, aud neighbouring islands. They 



