In his _Relation of some Yeare's Travaile_, he thus describes the
bird:--'The dodo; a bird the Dutch call walghvogel or dod eersen; her
body is round and fat, which occasions the slow pace, or that her
corpulencie; and so great as few of them weigh less than fifty pound:
better to the eye than stomack: greasy appetites may perhaps commend
them, but to the indifferently curious in nourishment, prove
offensive. Let's take her picture: her visage darts forth melancholy,
as if sensible of Nature's injurie in framing so great and massie a
body to be directed by such small and complementall wings, as are
unable to hoise her from the ground; serving only to prove her a bird,
which otherwise might be doubted of. Her head is variously drest, the
one-half hooded with downy blackish feathers; the other perfectly
naked, of a whitish hue, as if a transparent lawne had covered it. Her
bill is very howked, and bends downwards; the thrill or
breathing-place is in the midst of it, from which part to the end the
colour is a light green mixed with a pale yellowe; her eyes be round
and small, and bright as diamonds; her clothing is of finest downe,
such as you see on goslins. Her trayne is (like a China beard) of
three or four short feathers; her legs thick, black, and strong; her
tallons or pounces sharp; her stomach fiery hot, so as she easily can
digest stones.
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