382 FOREIGN BIRDS. 



The Banksian, black, crested, and bold Cockatoo, 

 With side tail-feathers ting'd of a bright crimson hue, 

 'Midst the woods of Australia delighting to rove ; — 

 Have never been seen in an Occident grove. 



Some few Absentees to be named remain still: 

 The uncouth Dodo( 43 ) came not, nor Jealous-Horn- 

 bill ; 



as the black Ostrich, being not less than seven feet ten inches 

 high : like the rest of the genus, it runs with prodigious speed; 

 the bill is black ; head, neck, and body, covered with bristly fea- 

 thers, varied with brown and grey; throat nakedish, bluish; 

 wings hardly visible ; legs brown. Inhabits New Holland, 

 where it is hunted with dogs, the skull or the jaw of which, ac- 

 cording to Wentworth, it sometimes fractures by a single 

 kick ; the flesh is good ; its weight varies from sixty to one 

 hundred and twenty pounds. It abounds with oil, which is 

 used for leather and other purposes. 



The Casuarius Diemenianus, (Lath.) or Van-Diemen's Land 

 Cassowary, is not so large as the preceding, but much exceeds 

 the bustard in size ; its general colour is dark brown, with a 

 tinge of blue or grey ; it has neither wings nor tail ; legs 

 stout, dirty bluish ; toes three, all placed forwards ; flesh said 

 to be well tasted ; eggs numerous, and very delicate ; inhabits 

 Van Diemen's Land. 



The three last species are arranged under one genus by Dr. 

 Latham. 



( +2 ) Order, Galling, (Linn.) Dodo, the Hooded, the 

 Solitary, the Nazarene. 



The genus Didus, (Linn.) or Dodo, consists of three species 

 only ; they have the bill narrowed in the middle, with two 

 transverse wrinkles, each mandible bent in at the tip ; nostrils 

 oblique ; face naked beyond the eyes; legs short, thick; feet 

 cleft; wings unfit for flight; tailless. They are arranged by 



