D I D 
dodo. Magnitude, which in mod animals implies ftrength, 
feems to produce nothing in this bird but opprellive 
weight. The oftrich and the caffowary indeed, are alfo 
incapable of flying, but they run with aftonifhing fpeed. 
The dodo feems to be clogged by its unwieldy carcafs, and 
can hardly collect force 1 'ufficient to drag it along. It is 
the mod inactive of the feathered race. It has wings; 
but thefe are too (hort and too feeble to raife it from the 
ground. It has a fubftitute for a tail, but it is difpropor- 
tioned, and out of place. The Dutch, who difcovered this 
bird in the ifland of Mauritius, now the Ifle of France, 
firft gave it the name of walgh-vogcl, difgufting bird; both 
on account of its ugly figure, and its rank fmell. It is 
very heavy, and exceeds the turkey and fwan in magni¬ 
tude. The upper mandible is pale blue, except at the 
hook, where there is a red fpot on a yellowifh ground ; 
the holes of the noftrils are placed very near its middle, 
and clofe to the two tranfverfe folds, which rife at this 
part on the furface. The feathers of this bird are in gene¬ 
ral very foft, and their predominating colour is cinereous 
grey, which is deeper on all the upper part of the body 
and the lower part of the legs, but brighter on the fto- 
mach, the belly, and the whole of the under part of the 
body: the wing and tail-feathers are yellowifli, edged with 
white; the quill-feathers of the wings, and thole of the 
tail, appear fomewhat frizzled, and are but few in num¬ 
ber. Clufius reckons only four or five. The feet and 
toes are yellow, and the nails black; each foot has four 
toes, three of which are placed before, and the fourth 
behind. Some lay that there is commonly lodged in the 
ftomach of the dodo, a ftone nearly of the fize of the 
hand, to which they afcribe the.fame origin as to be- 
zoars. This bird inhabits the illes of France and Bour¬ 
bon, in the Indian ocean. The Dutch call it dodaers-, 
and the Portuguefe dodo-, but it is named by the natives 
dronte. The annexed engraving is from the correct copy 
given by Edwards ; there is alfo a painting of it in the 
Britifii Mufeum. 
2. Didus folitarius, the folitary or hermit dodo : this 
fpecies was originally defcribed by Leguat, as a native of 
Diego Rias, or ifland of Rodrigut, in the Indian ocean. 
It is a large bird, weighing at leaftforty-fiVe pounds. The 
plumage is commonly mixed with grey and brown; but in 
the females it is more glofly, bordering onvellow, and very 
beautiful. The females have alfo a protuberance over the 
bill, refembling a widow’s peak; and their feathers fwell 
out on each fide the brealt into two fnaall white mounds, 
refembling teats. The feathers of the thighs are rounded 
towards the end in the thape of fhells, which has a fine 
eftedt. The male has fome refemblance to the turkey ; 
its legs differ only in being taller, and the bill in being 
more hooked ; its neck is alfo proportionally longer, the 
eye black and lively, the head without a crefl or tuft, 
and with fcarcely any tail; its hind part, which is round 
like the buttocks of a horfe, is covered with broad fea¬ 
thers. The wings do not enable it to fly ; but they are 
furnifned with fpurs or fpurious wings, terminating in a 
round protuberance. They feek out the mod folitary 
and unfrequented places where to lay their eggs ; they 
conftruft their rieft with the leaves of the palm-tree 
heaped up a foot and a half high ; the female lays only 
one egg, much larger than that of a gooje ; and the male 
participates in the office of hatching. During the time 
of incubation, they fuffier no bird of the fame kind to 
approach them. The egg requires feven weeks to hatch, 
and the young cannot provide for itfelf until fome months 
afterwards. During all that time it is watched with pa¬ 
ternal care ; and this circumfiance alone gives greater 
force to inftindtive affedtion than in the oftrich, which is 
abandoned from its birth, and never afterwards receives 
the foftering afliduities of its parents, but, being without 
any intimacy with them, is deprived of the advantages 
of their fociety, which is the firft education of animals, 
and which moft of all contributes to develope their native 
powers; and hence the oftriclT is eonfidered as the moft 
2 
DID 811 
unfeeling of the feathered race. After the education of 
the young folitary dodo is completed, the parents ftill 
continue united, and faithful to each other, though fomc- 
times they intermix with other birds of the fame fpecies. 
Leguat afferts, that whatever be their age, a ftone is al¬ 
ways found in their gizzard, as in the hooded dodo: this 
ftone is as large as a hen’s egg, flat on one fide, and con¬ 
vex on the other, fomewhat rough, and fo hard as to be 
fit for a whetftone. It is added, that it is always alone 
in the ftomach, and is too bulky to pafs through the in¬ 
termediate dudt which forms the only communication 
between the craw and the gizzard ; and hegee it is in¬ 
ferred, that this ftone is formed naturally, and in the 
fame way as the bezoars. But Butfon concludes, that 
this-bird, being granivorous, fwallows ftones and pebbles 
like all the reft of that clajs ; and that the paflage be¬ 
tween the craw and the gizzard admits of a greater dila¬ 
tation than Leguat luppofed. Thefe ftones, however, 
are fuppofed by moft naturalifts to be real calculi. The 
epithet folitary, indicates the native wildnefs of this bird ; 
for it can never be tamed. It is difficult to enfnare it in 
the woods, where it eludes the fiportfman by cunning and 
dexterity in concealing itfelf; but, as it does not run 
faft, it is eafily caught by dogs in the plains and open 
grounds: when fecured,-it utters not a complaint, but 
waftes in grief, and obftinately refufes every kind of food. 
The proper feafon for hunting them is from March to 
September, which is the winter in thofe countries they 
inhabit ; it is alfo the time when they are fatteft. Their 
fleth, when young, is of an excellent flavour. Such is 
the general idea which Leguat gives of the hermit or foli¬ 
tary dodo ; and he fpeaks not only as an eye-witnefs, but 
as an obferver, who had for a long time ftudied the habits 
of the bird in the country where they are indigenous. 
3. Didus Nazarenus, the Nazarene dodo. This bird 
of Nazareth, fo called, no doubt, by corruption, becaufe 
it was firft found in Nazare, in the ifland of Mauritius, 
by F. Caliche, is a very large fpecies, and more bulky 
than the fwan. Inftead of plumage, its body is entirely 
covered with a black down ; yet it has a few feathers, 
which are black on the wings, and frizzled on the rump, 
which ferve for a tail; it has a thick bill, incurvated 
fomewhat below ; the legs tall and covered with feales, 
three toes on each foot ; its cry refenmles that of a gof- 
ling, and its flefh has a tolerable relifh. The female, as 
in the other fpecies, lays only one egg, which is large 
and white. Befide it, there is generally found a white 
ftone of the fize of a hen’s egg; the caufe or reafon of 
whit h is not known. The Nazare depofits its egg on the 
ground in the forefts, on heaps of grafs and leaves w hich 
it collects togetiier as a fort of neft. When the young one 
is killed, a grey ftone is generally found in its gizzard. 
DIDWA'NA, a town of Hindooftan, in the country 
of Agimere : thirty miles north-eaft of Nagore, and fifty- 
one north of Agimere. 
DIDYMO'DON,/. in botany, one of Hedwig’s genera 
of modes. 
DI'DYMUS,y. [from 01; or to a, Gr. two.] A twin. 
In botany, it means double, or having two of each fort. 
DI'DYMUS, [from the Greek, lignifying a twin.'} 
The name of a man. 
DI'DYMUS, an eminent grammarian, fon of a fifh- 
monger of Alexandria, fiourifhed in the age of Auguftus. 
He was celebrated for the number of books he compofed, 
amounting to 3500, or even to 4000, whence he acquired, 
the epithet of Chalcenteros ; i. e. that he mutt have had 
a brazen injide, to have gone through fo much fatigue ; 
and of Bibliolathes, from the probable circumftance of for. 
getting the boohs he had himteff written. Of the lubjects 
which chiefly employed his pen, we may form an idea, 
from what is faid of him by Seneca. “ Didytnus, the 
grammarian, wrote 4000 books: he were to be pitied 
had he only read fo much unneceftary matter. His topics 
were, What was the country of Homer ? Who was the 
real mother of Aineas ? Was Anacreon more diltinguiffied 
