Their appearance is singular, and even disgusting.

Their steps are very slow, measured, and heavy, their bodies being carried about a foot from the ground.

Their neck is long, and exceedingly slender, from eighteen inches to two feet is a very common length, and I killed one, where the distance from the shoulder to the extremity of the head was no less than three feet ten inches.

The head has a striking resemblance to that of a serpent.

They can exist without food for an almost incredible length of time, instances having been known where they have been thrown into the hold of a vessel and lain two years without nourishment of any kind--being as fat, and, in every respect, in as good order at the expiration of the time as when they were first put in.