BIRDS. 43 



fly before him : at his approach they quit their ancient liabita- 

 tions, how adajjted soever they may be to their natures, and secK 

 a more peaceable, though barren, retreat j where they willingly 

 exchange plenty for freedom ; and encounter all the dangers of 

 famine, to avoid the oppressions of an unrelenting destroyer. 



CHAP. VII. 



THE DODO. 



Mankind have generally made swiftness the attribute of birds ; 

 but the dodo has no title to this distinction. Instead of exciting 

 the idea of swiftness by its appearance, it seems to strike the im- 

 agination as a thing the most unwieldy and inactive of all nature. 

 Its body is massive, almost round, and covered with gray feath- 

 ers ; it is just barely supported upon two short thick legs, like 

 pillars, while its head and neck rise from it in a manner 

 truly grotesque. The neck, thick and pursy, is joined to the 

 head, which consists of two great chaps, that open far behind the 

 eyes, which ai-e large, black, and prominent ; so that the animal, 

 when it gapes, seems to be all mouth. The bill, therefore, is of 

 an extraordinary length, not flat and broad, but thick, and of a 

 bluish white, sharp at the end, and each chap crooked in oppo- 

 site directions. They resemble two pointed spoons that are laid 

 together by the backs. From all this results a stupid and vora- 

 cious physiognomy ; which is still more increased by a bordering 

 of feathers round the root of the beak, and which gives the ap. 

 pearance of a hood or cowl, and finishes this picture of stupid 

 deformity. Bulk, which in other animals implies strength, in 

 this only contributes to inactivity. The ostrich, or the casso- 

 wary, are no more able to fly than the animal before us ; but 

 then they supply that defect by their speed in runn.ing. The 

 dodo seems weighed down by its own heaviness, and has scarcely 

 strength to urge itself forward. It seems among birds what the 

 sloth is among quadrupeds, an unresisting thing, equally in- 

 capable of flight or defence. It is furnished with wings, covered 

 with soft ash-coloured feathers, but they are too short to assist 

 it in flying. It is furnished with a tail, with a few small curled 

 feathers ; but this tail is disproportioned and displaced. Its legs 

 are too short for nmninf. and its body too fat to be st^•o.^g. One 



