Mankind nave generally made swiftness the attributes 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 imagination as one of the most unwieldy and inactive productions of nature.

Its body is massive, almost round, and covered with grey feathers; it is 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, opening far beyond the eyes, which are black and prominent; so that the animal, when it gapes , seems to be all mouth. The bill, 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 opposite directions. They resemble two pointed spoons, laid together by the backs.

From all this, results a stupid and voracious physiognomy, which is still more increased by a bordering of feathers round the root of the beak, giving the appearance of a hood or cowl, and finishing this picture of stupid deformity. Bulk, which in other animals implies strength, in this only contributes to inactivity.

The ostrich or cassowary, are no more able to fly than the animal before us; but then they supply that defect by their speed of running. The dodo seems weighed down by its own heaviness, and has hardly strength to urge itself forward.

It seems to be among birds what the sloth is among quadrupeds, an imbecile animal, equally incapable of flight or defence. It is provided with wings, covered with soft, ash-coloured feathers; but they are too short to assist it in flying. It is furnished with a tail, on which are scattered a few small curled feathers; but this tail is disproportioned and misplaced. Its legs are too short for running, and its body too fat to be strong. It resembles a tortoise that had supplied itself with the feathers of a bird; and thus dressed out with the instrument of flight, it is only rendered still more unwieldy.

The bird is a native of the Isle of France; and the Dutch, who first discovered it there, called it, in their language, the nauseous bird, as well from its disgusting figure as from the bad taste of its flesh. However, succeeding observers contradict this first report, and assert that its flesh is good and wholesome eating. It is a silly, simple bird, as may well be supposed from its figure, and is very easily captured. Three of four dodos will afford a sufficient dinner for a hundred men.

Whether the dodo be the same bird with that which some travellers have described under the appellation of the bird of Nazareth, still remains uncertain. The country whence they come is the same; both are incapable of flying; the form of the wings and body are similar in both; but the chief difference recorded is in the color of the feathers; which in the female of the bird of Nazareth is said to be extremely beautiful; and in their legs, which in the dodo are short, and in the other are described as long. Time and future observations must clear up the doubts, and the testimony of a single witness, who shall have seen both, will throw more light on the subject than the reasonings of a hundred philosophers.