or dodo, in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of gallinæ. The bill is contracted in the middle by two transverse rugæ; each mandible is inflected at the point; and the face is bare behind the eyes. Only one species, the ineptus, is mentioned by Linnæus; but three are described by Buffon; though it is doubted whether on further observation they may not all prove one and the same species, differing only in sex or age.

1. The dronte, or hooded dodo, (ineptus, Lin.), is somewhat bigger than a swan, and near three feet in length. The bill is strong, large, and hooked at the end; the gape stretches beyond the eyes; the colour of it is a very pale blue; except the end of the upper mandible, which is yellowish, and a red spot on the bend of it; the end of the lower is blackish; the irides are white. The general colour of the plumage is cinereous, and soft to the touch; the belly and thighs are whitish. The head is large, and seems as it were covered with a black hood or cowl. The wings are very short, and of a yellowish ash-colour; the tail feathers are curled, stand up on the rump, and incline to yellow. The legs have four toes, three before and one behind; are very stout, short, and yellowish; the claws are black. It inhabits the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon in the Indian Ocean.

2. The folitaire, or solitary dodo, is a large bird, and the male is said to weigh sometimes 45 pounds. The neck is of a proportionable length, and the eye black and lively; the head is not crested, and the general colour of the plumage is grey and brown mixed; it has scarce any tail, and the bastard wing swells out into a round knob; the wings are too short for flight; and the hind parts are rounded like a horse's rump, being clothed with feathers, which may be termed coverts. —The females are covered with sometimes brown and sometimes light yellow feathers, and appear very beautiful. The feathers on each side of the breast enlarge into two white tufts, somewhat resembling the bosom of a woman. Those of the thighs are rounded at the end like shells; and, according to Leguat, the bird has altogether a noble and elegant gait. This is an inhabitant of the Isle of Rodrigue, where it is not uncommon; but not met with in flocks, scarcely more than two being found together. It makes the nest in by-places, of leaves of the palm, a foot and a half in thickness; and lays one egg, bigger than that of a goose. The male sits in his turn; and does not suffer any bird to approach within 200 yards of the spot while the hen is sitting, which is seven weeks. The young is some months before it can shift for itself; the old ones, in the mean time, are affectionate to it, and faithful to each other afterwards, though they occasionally may mix with others of their kind. The young birds, though timid, are stupid enough to suffer the approach of any one; but when grown up are more shy, and will not be tamed. They are chased in the winter season, viz. from March to September; being then fat, and the young birds are much esteemed for the table.

3. The Nazarene dodo is bigger than a swan. The bill is a little bent downwards and large; instead of feathers, the whole is covered over with a black down; but the wings are feathered, and it has some frizzled ones upon the rump, which serve instead of a tail: the Didymus legs are long and scaly, and there are three toes on each foot. This was met with in the Isle of France, Diemen's Land, and described as above by Fr. Cauche; who adds, that the female only lays one egg, which is white, and as big as a penny loaf; and that there is always found with it a white stone of the size of an hen's egg; that it makes the nest of leaves and dry herbs, in the forests, on the ground; and that there is likewise found a grey stone in the gizzard of the young bird.

DIDYMUS of Alexandria, an ecclesiastical writer of the fourth century; who, though he is said to have lost his eyes at five years of age, when he had scarcely learned to read, yet applied so carefully to study, that he attained all the philosophic arts in a high degree, and was thought worthy to fill the chair in the famous divinity-school at Alexandria. He was the author of a great number of works; but all we have now remaining are, a Latin translation of his book upon the Holy Spirit, in the works of St Jerome, who was the translator; short strictures on the Canonical Epistles; and a book against the Manichees.