78 THE SOLITAIRE. [169I, 



are too little to support tlie wei^^ht of their Bodies; they 

 serve only to beat themselves, and liutter^ 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 

 ]\Iinutes : The Motions of their Wings makes then a noise 

 very like that of a liattle; and one may hear it two hundred 

 Paces off. The Bone of their Wing grows greater towards 

 the Extremity, and forms a little round Mass under the 

 Feathers, as big as a INIusket Ball : That and its Beak are 

 the chief De.fence of this Bird. 'Tis very hard to catch it 

 in the Woods, but easie in open Places, because we run faster 

 than they, and sometimes we approach them without much 

 Trouble. Erom March to Scptciiibcr they are extremely fat, 

 and tast admirably well, especially while they are young, 

 some of the Males weigh forty five Pound. 



The Females are wonderfully beautiful, some fair, some 

 brown ; I call them fair, because they are of the colour of fair 

 Hair : They have a sort of Peak like a Widow's cap^ upon 

 their Breasts, which is of a dun Colour. No one Feather is 

 stragling from the other all over their Bodies, they being very 

 careful to adjust themselves, and make them all even with 

 their Beaks. The Feathers on their Thighs are round like 

 shells at the end, and being there very thick, have an 

 agreeable effect : They have two Eisings on their Craivs,^ and 

 the Feathers are whiter there than the rest, which livelily 

 Eepresents the fine Neck of a Beautiful Woman. They 

 walk with so much Stateliness and good Grace, that one can- 

 not help admiring and loving them ; by which means their 

 fine Mein [i.e., mien) often saves their Lives. 



Tho' these Birds Avill sometimes very familiarly come up 



1 In orig.: " pour faire le moulinet.'' 



2 In orig. : " lis font avec vitesse vingt ou trente pirouettes tout de 

 suite, du meme cote, pendant Fespace de quatre ou cinq minutes." 



3 In orig.: "bandeau." 



"^ Craw — Dutch Kracuj^ Swed. Kriifva., (Terra. Krugen — the crop of 

 fowls. 



