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A DESCRIPTION OF 
THE DODO. 
SWIFTNESS has generally been considered the attribute 
of birds ; but the Dodo appears never to have had any 
title to this distinction. Instead of exciting the idea of 
swiftness by its appearance, in the drawings that have 
been preserved of it, it seems to strike the imagination as 
a thing the most unwieldy and inactive of all nature. Its 
body is massive, almost round, and covered with gray 
feathers. 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 bead, which consists of two immense jaws, 
which open far beyond the eye. This bird has been placed 
by naturalists in the ostrich family, but its flesh is said to 
have resembled that of the turkey. The Dodo formerly 
inhabited the Isle of France ; but it has been long ex- 
tinct. 
