UC-NRLF

B 3 271 fibl

THE

COLLECTION

OF

FRANK MARCHAM

1899

GIFT OF
Frank Marcham

BIOLOGY
LIBRARY

ESSAYS ON EARLY ORNITHOLOGY

2oo copies printed

CASUARIUS UNIAPPENDICULATUS, juv.

ESSAYS

ON

EARLY ORNITHOLOGY

AND KINDRED SUBJECTS

BY

JAMES R. McCLYMONT

If

M.A., AUTHOR OF * PEDRALUAREZ CABRAL '
* VICENTE AiNES PINQON '

WITH THREE PLATES

LONDON

BERNARD QUARITCH LTD.

ii GRAFTON STREET, NEW BOND STREET

1920

BIOLOGY
LIBRABY

GIFT OP

CONTENTS

PAGE

THE RUKH OF MARCO POLO 3

THE PENGUINS AND THE SEALS or THE ANGRA

DE SAM BRAS 7

THE BANDA ISLANDS AND THE BANDAN BIRDS . 15

THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAME *EMU' . . 21

AUSTRALIAN BIRDS IN 1697 25

NEW ZEALAND BIRDS IN 1772 .... 32

W90982

LIST OF PLATES

I CASUARIUS UNIAPPENDICULATUS, Blyth. (juv.). From
an example in the British Museum of Natural History.
By permission of the Director. .... Frontispiece

This plate should be compared with that opposite p. 22, which
represents a cassowary with two wattles— probably an immature
Casuarius galeatus, Vieill.y^r that is the species which is believed
to have been brought alive to Europe by the Dutch in 1597. An
immature example of that species was not available for repro-
duction.

II. ABRIS DES WVNDERBAREN VOGELS EME. From the
fifth edition of Erste Schiffart in die orientalische
Indien so die hollandische Schiff im Martio 1595
aussgefahren vnd im Augusto 1597 wiederkommen
verzicht . . . Durch Levinvm Hvlsivm. Editio Quinta.
Getruckt zu Franckfurt am Mayn durch Hartmann
Palthenium in Verlegung der Hulfischen. Anno
M.DC.xxv., From a copy of the book in the British
Museum. By permission of the Keeper of Printed
Books p. 22

III. THE MASKED OR BLUE-FACED GANNET (Sula cyanops,
S. per sonata). From an example in the Royal Scottish
Museum. By permission of the Director. . . . p. 35

In the Manuel £ Ornithologie (1828) Lesson writes: ' Le Fou
Manche de Velours, " manga de velado " des navigateurs portugais ,
que Von dit etre le fou de Hassan, est de moitie' plus petit. Ce
serait done une race distincte? torn. II. p. 375. And in the Traite
ff Ornithologie the same author amplifies thus what he has
written: ''Fou Manche de Velours; Sula dactylatra, Less. Zool.
de la Cog., Texte, part 2, p. 494. Esphe confondue avec lefou de
Bassan adulte; est le manga de Velado des Portugais. Plumage
blancpur; ailes et queue noires ; bee cornt ; tarses jaunes ; la base
du bee cerclte d'une peau nue, qui Attend sur la gorge en forme
de demi-cercle, Femelle : Grise. die de f Ascension, les mers
chaudes des Tropiques? Texte, p. 60 1.

THE RUKH OF MARCO POLO

4 The Rukh of Marco Polo

between that of the phoenix and that of the pelican fed upon the
blood' iof it,s mother whose beak is tipped with red, or that of
.the barnacje goose, of which the name suggests the mollusc,* the
barnacle; 'arid which was said to proceed from the mollusc or
that of the bird of paradise, the feet of which were cut off by
the Malay traders who sold the skins, and which were commonly
reported never to have had feet, but to float perpetually in
the air.

Thus two streams united into one floated the conception of
the rukh — a mythological stream taking its rise from the simourgh
of the Persians and a stream of fact taking its rise in the
observation of a real bird which visited certain islands off the
south-east coast of Africa, and which is said to have resembled
an eagle and may have been a sea-eagle. With commendable
reticence lexicographers tell us that ' rukh ' was the name of
a bird of mighty wing.

* J.e.f a fabulous mollusc ; the barnacle is not now regarded as a mollusc.

THE PENGUINS AND THE SEALS

OF THE

ANGRA DE SAM BRAS

r I ^HERE exists an anonymous narrative of the first voyage
JL of Vasco da Gama to India under the title Roteiro da
Viagem de Vasco da Gama em MCCCCXCVII. Although it is
called a roteiro, it is in fact a purely personal and popular
account of the voyage, and does not contain either sailing direc-
tions or a systematic description of all the ports which were
visited, as one might expect in a roteiro. There is no reason to
believe that it was written by Vasco da Gama. An officer in
such high authority would not be likely to write his narrative
anonymously. The faulty and variable orthography of the
roteiro also renders improbable the hypothesis that Vasco da
Gama was the author.

The journal of the first voyage of Columbus contains many
allusions to the birds which were seen in the course of it by the
great discoverer. In this respect the roteiro of the first voyage
of Vasco da Gama resembles it. The journal of Columbus is
the earliest record of an important voyage of discovery which
recognises natural history as an aid to navigators, the roteiro
is the next.

The author of the roteiro notes that birds resembling large
herons were seen in the month of August, 1497, at which time, I
opine, the vessels of Da Gama were not far from the Gulf of
Guinea, or were, perhaps, making their way across that gulf.

8 The Penguins and the Seals

On the 27th of October, as the vessels approached the south-
west coast of Africa, whales and seals were encountered, and
also 'quoquas.'

' Quoquas ' is the first example of the eccentric orthography
of our author. ' Quoquas ' is, no doubt, his manner of writing
' conchas,' that is to say ' shells ' ; the til over the o is absent ;
perhaps that is a typographical error ; probably the author
wrote or intended to write quoquas. These shells may have
been those of nautili.

On the 8th of November the vessels under the command of
Vasco da Gama cast anchor in a wide bay which extended from
east to west, and which was sheltered from all winds excepting that
which blew from the north-west. It was subsequently estimated
that this anchorage was sixty leagues distant from the Angra de
Sam Bras ; and as the Angra de Sam Bras was estimated to be
sixty leagues distant from the Cape of Good Hope, the sheltered
anchorage must have been in proximity to the Cape.

The voyagers named it the Angra de Santa Elena, and it
may have been the bay which is now known as St. Helen's Bay.
But it is worthy of note that the G. de Sta. Ellena of the
Cantino Chart is laid down in a position which corresponds
rather with that of Table Bay than with that of St. Helen's
Bay.

The Portuguese came into contact with the inhabitants of
the country adjacent to the anchorage. These people had tawny
complexions, and carried wooden spears tipped with horn —
assagais of a kind — and bows and arrows. They also used
foxes' tails attached to short wooden handles. We are not
informed for what purposes the foxes' tails were used. Were
they used to brush flies away, or were they insignia of authority ?
The food of the natives was the flesh of whales, seals, and

of the Angra de Sam Bras 9

antelopes (gazellas), and the roots of certain plants. Crayfish
or { Cape lobsters ' abounded near the anchorage.

The author of the roteiro affirms that the birds of the
country resembled the birds in Portugal, and that amongst them
were cormorants, larks, turtle-doves, and gulls. The gulls are
called ' guayvotas,' but ' guayvotas ' is probably another instance
of the eccentric orthography of the author and equivalent to
' gaivotas/

In December the squadron reached the Angra de Sao Bras,
which was either Mossel Bay or another bay in close proximity
to Mossel Bay. Here penguins and seals were in great
abundance. The author of the roteiro calls the penguins
* sotelycairos,' which is more correctly written ' sotilicarios ' by
subsequent .writers. The word is probably related to the Spanish
sotil and the Latin subtilis, and may contain an allusion to the
supposed cunning of the penguins, which disappear by diving
when an enemy approaches.

The sotilicarios, says the chronicler, could not fly because
there were no quill-feathers in their wings ; in size they were as
large as drakes, and their cry resembled the braying of an ass.
Castanheda, Goes, and Osorio also mention the sotilicario in their
accounts of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, and compare its
flipper to the wing of a bat — a not wholly inept comparison, for
the under-surface of the wings of penguins is wholly devoid or
feathery covering. Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, who visited
the south coast of Africa in 1575, also describes the Cape
penguin. From a manuscript of his Roteiro in the Oporto
Library, one learns that the flippers of the sotilicario were
covered with minute feathers, as indeed they are on the upper
surface and that they dived after fish, upon which they fed, and
on which they fed their young, which were hatched in nests

c

lo The Penguins and the Seals

constructed of fishbones.* There is nothing to cavil at in these
statements, unless it be that which asserts that the nests were
constructed of fishbones, for this is not in accordance with the
observations of contemporary naturalists, who tell us that the
nests of the Cape Penguin (Spheniscus demersus] are constructed
of stones, shells, and debris. t It is, therefore, probable that
the fishbones which Perestrello saw were the remains of repasts
of seals.

Seals, says the roteiro, were in great number at the Angra de
Sao Bras. On one occasion the number was counted and was
found to be three thousand. Some were as large as bears and
their roaring was as the roaring of lions. Others, which were
very small, bleated like kids. These differences in size and in
voice may be explained by differences in the age and in the sex
of the seals, for seals of different species do not usually resort to
the same locality. The seal which formerly frequented the south
coast of Africa — for it is, I believe, no longer a denizen of that
region — was that which is known to naturalists as Arctocephalus
dclalandii) and, as adult males sometimes attain eight and a hair
feet in length, it may well be described as of the size of a bear.
Cubs from six to eight months of age measure about two feet
and a half in length.^ The Portuguese caught anchovies in the
bay, which they salted to serve as provisions on the voyage.
They anchored a second time in the Angra de Sao Bras in
March, 1499, on their homeward voyage.

Yet one more allusion to the penguins and seals of the Angra

* Roteiro da. Viagtm de Vasco da (jama. 2da ec^ao. Lisboa, 1861. Pp. 14
and 105.

f Moseley, Notes by a "Naturalist on the ' Challenger? p. 155.

\ Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum , by J. E. Gray.
2nd ed., p. 53.

of the Angra de Sam Bras 1 1

de Sao Bras is of sufficient historical interest to be mentioned.
The first Dutch expedition to Bantam weighed anchor on the
2nd of April, 1595, and on the 4th of August of the same year
the vessels anchored in a harbour called * Ague Sambras,' in eight
or nine fathoms of water, on a sandy bottom. So many of the
sailors were sick with scurvy — ' thirty or thirty-three,' says the
narrator, ' in one ship' — that it was necessary to find fresh fruit
for them. cln this bay/ runs the English translation of the
narrative, ' lieth a small Island wherein are many birds called
Pyncuins and sea Wolves, that are taken with men's hands/ In
the original Dutch narrative by Willem Lodewyckszoon, pub-
lished in Amsterdam in 1597, the name of the birds appears as
' Pinguijns.'

THE BANDA ISLANDS AND THE
BANDAN BIRDS

THE islands of the Banda Sea, with the exception of Letti,
Kisser, and Wetter, constitute the Ceram sub-group or
the Moluccan group ; the principal units are Buru, Amboyna,
Great- Banda, Ceram, Ceram Laut, Goram, Kur, Babar, and
Dama. The Matabela Islands, the Tiandu Islands, the Ke
Islands, and the Tenimber Islands also belong to the Ceram sub-
group. We are only concerned with the Banda Islands, which
are eight in number, and consist of four central islands in close
proximity to one another, inclosing a little inland sea, and four
outlying islets. The central islands are Lonthoir, or Great Banda,
Banda Neira, Gounong Api, which is an active volcano, and
Pisang. The remaining Banda Islands are Rozengain, which
lies about ten miles distant to the south-east of Great Banda ;
Wai, at an equal distance to the west ; Rhun, about eight miles
west by south from Wai ; and Suangi or Manukan, about
seventeen miles north by east from Rhun.

The Banda Islands are well known as the principal centre or
the cultivation of the nutmeg. When the Dutch East India
Company became the possessors of the islands in the beginning
of the seventeenth century, they destroyed the nutmeg trees in
all the islands under their jurisdiction, with the exception of
those in Amboyna and the Banda Islands. By doing so they
hoped to maintain the high value of these natural products.

The Banda Islands may have been visited by Varthema,

1 6 The Banda Islands and the Bandan Birds

but our first reliable account of them connects the discovery
of them with an expedition dispatched by order of Alfonso de
Albuquerque from Malacca. Shortly after Albuquerque had
defeated the Malays and taken possession of that city, he sent
three vessels, under the command of Antonio de Abreu, to
explore the Archipelago and to inaugurate a trade with the
islanders. A junk, commanded by a native merchant captain,
Ismael by name, preceded the other vessels for the purpose of
announcing their approaching advent to the traders of the Archi-
pelago, so that they might have their spices ready for shipment.
With De Abreu went Francisco Serrao and Simao Affonso, in
command of two of the vessels. The pilots were Luis Botim,
Gon^alo de Oliveira, and Francisco Rodriguez or Roiz. Abreu
left Malacca in November, 1511, at which season the westerly
monsoon begins to blow. He steered a south-easterly course,
passed through the Strait of Sabong, and having arrived at the
coast of Java, he cast anchor at Agac^ai, which Valentijn identifies
with Gresik, near Sourabaya. At Agac^ai, Javan pilots were
engaged for the voyage thence to the Banda Islands. Banda was,
however, not the first port of call. The course was first to Buru,
and thence to Amboyna. Galvao relates that Abreu landed at
Guli Guli, which is in Ceram. Barros, however, in his account
of the voyage, makes no mention of Ceram. At Amboyna the
ship commanded by Francisco Serrao, an Indian vessel which had
been captured at Goa, was burnt, for, says Barros, ' she was old/
and the ship's company was divided between the two other ships,
which then proceeded to Lutatao, which is perhaps identical with
Ortattan, a trading station on the north coast of Great Banda.
Here Abreu obtained a cargo ot nutmegs and mace and of
cloves, which had been brought hither from the Moluccas. At
Lutatao Abreu erected a pillar in token of annexation to the

The Banda Islands and the Bandan Birds 1 7

dominions of the King of Portugal. He had done this at
Agac^ai and in Amboyna also.

The return voyage to Malacca was marked by disaster. A
junk, which now was bought to replace the Indian vessel, was
wrecked, and the crew, who had taken refuge on a small island,
was attacked by pirates. The pirates, however, were worsted and
their craft was captured. Serrao, who had been in command of
the junk, sailed in the pirate vessel to Amboyna, and thence
eventually reached Ternate, where he remained at the invitation
of Boleife, the Sultan of that island. The junk, of which Ismael
was the skipper, was also wrecked near Tuban, but the cargo,
consisting of cloves, was recovered in 1513 from the Javans, who
had taken possession of it.

Zoologically the Banda Islands lie within Wallace's Australian
Region, and their avifauna has a great affinity with that of
Australia. Wallace visited these islands in December 1857,
May 1859, and April 1861, and collected eight species of birds,
namely, Khipidura squamata, a fan-tailed Flycatcher ; Pachycephala
phxonota, a thickhead ; Myzomela boiei, a small scarlet-headed
honey-eater ; Zosterops chlorisy a white-eye ; Pitta vigorsi, one of
the brightly-coloured ground thrushes of the Malayan region;
Halcyon chloris, a kingfisher with a somewhat extensive range ;
Ptilopus xantkogaster, a fruit-eating pigeon, and the nutmeg
pigeon, Carpophaga concinna. The islands were visited by the
members of the Challenger expedition in September and October,
1874, but the only additional species then obtained was Monarcha
cinerascens, also a Flycatcher.

These birds may be regarded as the resident birds of the
Banda Islands, but there are others which are occasional visitants
or migrants. Indeed, in seas so full of islands, it is inevitable that
wanderers from other islands should occasionally visit the group.

D

1 8 The Banda Islands and the Bandan Birds

To those which I have already mentioned there may there-
fore be added, as of less frequency, the accipitrine bird, Astur
polionofus, the Hoary-backed Goshawk ; the Passeres Edoliisoma
dispar, a Caterpillar Shrike, the skin of a male of which from
Great Banda is in the Leyden Museum, and Motacilla melanope,
the Grey Wagtail. Of picarian birds there have been found
Cuculus intermediuS) the Oriental Cuckoo ; Eudynamis cyanocephala
sub-species everetti, a small form of the Koel, and Eurystomus
australis, the Australian Roller. Joao de Barros, in his Asia,
mentions the parrots of the Banda Islands,* and we find accordingly
that one of the Psittaci is recorded from Banda in modern times,
namely, Eos rubra, a red, or rather a crimson lory. The orni-
thologist Miiller saw many of these birds in Great Banda, on the
Kanary trees. Additional pigeons are the seed-eating Chal-
cophaps chrysochlora and the fruit-eating Plilonopus wattacei, and
finally there is one gallinaceous bird which is probably resident,
but the shy and retiring habits of which have enabled it to escape
observation until recently. This is a Scrub Fowl (Megapodius
duperreyi).

* III. v. 6. ' Muitos papagayos & passaros diversos.'

THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAME

'EMU'

THE name < emu * has an interesting history. It occurs in
the forms * emia ' and ' erne ' in Purchas bis Pilgrimage, in
1613. 'In Banda and other islands/ says Purchas, * the bird called
emia or erne is admirable.' We should probably pronounce ' erne '
in two syllables, as e-me. This erne or emia was doubtless a
cassowary — probably that of Ceram. The idea that it was a
native of the Banda Group appears to have existed in some
quarters at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but the
idea was assuredly an erroneous one. So large a struthious bird
as the cassowary requires more extensive feeding-grounds and
greater seclusion than was to be found in any island of the Banda
Group, and, as at the present day so in the past, Ceram was the
true home of the Malayan cassowary, which found and which
finds in the extensive forests of that island the home adapted to
its requirements. It is, however, equally certain that at an early
date the Ceram cassowary was imported into Amboyna and
probably into Banda also, and we know of an early instance of
its being introduced into Java, and from Java into Europe.
When the first Dutch expedition to Java had reached that island,
and when the vessels of which it was composed were lying at
anchor off Sindaya, some Javans brought a cassowary on board
Schellenger's ship as a gift, saying that the bird was a rare one
and that it swallowed fire. At least, so they were understood to
say, but that they really did say so is somewhat doubtful.

22 The Etymology of the Name ' Emu"

However, the sailors put the matter to the test by administering
to the bird a dose of hollands ; perhaps the hollands was ignited
and administered in the form of liquid fire, but it is not expressly
stated that this was the case. This cassowary was brought alive
to Amsterdam in 1597, and was presented to the Estates of
Holland at the Hague.* A figure of it, under the name ' erne/
appears in the fourth and fifth German editions of the account
of this voyage of the Dutch to Java, by Hulsius, published at
Frankfort in 1606 and 1625. The figure is a fairly accurate
representation of an immature cassowary.

Whence comes, let us ask, the name ' erne ' and the later
form, * emu/ The New Historical English Dictionary suggests
a derivation from a Portuguese word, ' ema,' signifying a crane.
But no authority is quoted to prove that ema signifies, or ever
signified, crane. On the other hand, various Portuguese
dictionaries which have been consulted render * ema' by ' casoar,'
or state that the name * ema ' is applicable to several birds, of
which the crane is not one. Pero de Magalhaes de Gandavo,
in his Historia da Provincia Sane fa Cruz, published in 1576,
uses the name * hema ' in writing of the rhea or nandu.

It is worthy of note that the Arabic name of the cassowary
is 'neama', and that there were many Arab traders in the
Malayan Archipelago at the time when the Portuguese first
navigated it. The Portuguese strangely distorted Malay and
Arabic names, and it would not be surprising if they reproduced
* neama ' as ' uma ema.'

* Salvador), referring to Hist. Gen. de Voy. VIII. p. 112, states that the
Cassowary which was brought alive to Europe by the Dutch in 1597 belonged
first to Count Solms van Gravenhage, then to the Elector Ernest van Keulen, and
finally to the Emperor Rudolph II. Ornit. della Papuasia e delle Molucche. III.
p. 48 1.

W

w
E

H

AUSTRALIAN BIRDS IN 1697

IN 1696 the Honourable Directors of the Dutch Chartered
Company trading to the Dutch East Indies decided to send
an expedition for the purpose of searching for missing vessels,
especially for the Ridderschap van Hollandt, of which no news had
been received for two years. The local Board of Directors of the
Amsterdam Chamber of the Company was charged to carry out
this resolution, and it equipped three vessels which were placed
under the command of Willem de Vlaming. The Commander
was directed to search for missing vessels or for shipwrecked
sailors at the Tristan da Cunha Islands, the Cape of Good Hope,
and the Islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul in the Southern
Ocean. Thence he was to proceed to the * Onbekende ZuidlandJ
by which name, or by that of Eendragts Land, Australia was
designated in whole or in part in the official dispatches of the
Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth century.

On the 29th of December, 1696, the vessels under the com-
mand of De Vlaming lay at anchor between Rottnest Island and
the mainland of Australia. The island was searched for wreckage
with little result. One piece of timber was found which, it was
conjectured, might have been deck timber, and a plank was
found, three feet long and one span broad. The nails in the
wreckage were very rusty. The search for shipwrecked sailors
on the adjacent mainland was unsuccessful. On the 2Oth and
on the 3ist of December, and on the ist of January, 1697,

£

26 Australian Birds in 1697

De Vlaming notes in his journal that odoriferous wood was found
on the mainland. Portions of it were subsequently submitted
to the Council of the Dutch East Indies at Batavia, and from
these portions an essential oil was obtained by distillation. It
may well be supposed that this experiment was the first in the
manufacture of eucalyptus oil, which, however, in our day is
obtained not from the wood but from the leaves of the tree.
On the 1 3th of January De Vlaming records that a dark resinous
gum resembling lac was seen exuding from trees.

In a narrative of the voyage published under the title
Journaal wegens een Voyagie na het onbckende Zuid-Iand, we
read that on the nth of January nine or ten Black Swans were
seen. In a letter from Willem van Oudhoorn, Governor-General
of the Dutch East Indies, to the Managers of the East India
Company at the Amsterdam Chamber, it is stated that three
black swans were brought alive to Batavia, but died soon after
their arrival.*

Several boat expeditions were made, and Swan River was
entered and ascended. During these expeditions the author of
the Journaal mentions that the song of the ' Nachtegael ' was
heard. There are no nightingales in Australia, but the bird to
which the writer of the Journaal alludes may have been the
Long-billed Reed Warbler, the Australian representative of the
Sedge Warbler and a denizen of the reed-beds of the Swan
River. Two species of geese are also mentioned by the same
writer under the names of European geese. It is somewhat
difficult to determine to which geese the author of the Journaal
alludes under the names * Kropgans ' and * Rotgans.'

When English - speaking Dutch are asked to translate
* kropgans,' they do so by c Christmas goose ' or * fat goose/

* Heeres, The Tart borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia, p. 84.

Australian Birds in 1697 27

Dictionaries are silent respecting ' kropgans/ or render it by
' pelican/ I am inclined to think that this rendering arises
from a confusion between ' kropgans ' and the German word
' kropfgans/ and that ' kropgans ' was formerly applied to
domestic geese in general which were being fed for the market,
and also, as in the present instance, to the wild goose from
which they were derived, namely to the Grey Lag Goose (Anser
ferus). If this be so, the Australian bird with which the kropgans
is compared in the Journaal may be the Cape Barren Goose
(Cereopsis novte-hollandi*\ which is found sparingly in Western
Australia. The 'Rotgans' is the Brent Goose (Bran fa bernida)
and the Australian bird which most resembles it is the Musk
Duck (Biziura lobata), which also is found in the west of
Australia, although more sparingly there than in the south of
the island continent.

Other birds which were seen at the same part of the
Australian coast were ' Duikers/ by which name Cormorants
are probably designated, Cockatoos and Parrakeets. It is said
that all the birds were shy and flew away at the approach of
human beings. No aborigines were seen, although smoke was
visible.

On the 1 5th of January De Vlaming quitted the anchorage
near Rottnest Island, and followed the coast until 30° 17' S. lat.
was reached. Two boats were there sent to the shore and
soundings were taken. The country near the landing-place was
sandy and treeless, and neither human beings nor fresh water
were to be seen. But footmarks resembling those of a dog
were seen, and also a bird which the Journaal calls a c Kasuaris '
and which must have been one of the Emus.*

On the 3<Dth of January, 26° 8' S. lat. was observed, which is

* No Cassowary is known to inhabit western Australia.

28 Australian Birds in 1697

approximately that of False Entrance. On the ist of February
the pilot of the Geehink left the ships in one of the Geehink' s
boats in order to ascertain the position of Dirk Hartog's Anchor-
age, and the captains of two of the vessels made an excursion for
a distance of six or seven miles inland. They returned to the
ships on the following day, bringing with them the head of a
large bird, and they imparted the information that they had seen
two huge nests built of branches.*

The pilot of the Geehink returned to the ship on the 3rd of
February, and reported that he had passed through a channel —
probably that which is now known as South Passage — and had
followed the coast of Dirk Hartog's Island until he reached the
northern extremity of the island. There, upon an acclivity, a tin
plate was found on the ground. Certain words scratched upon
the metal indicated that the ship Eendragt^ of Amsterdam, of
which Dirk Hartog was master, had anchored off the island on
the 25th of October, 1616, and had departed for Bantam on the
27th day of the same month. The pilot brought the metal plate
— a flattened tin dish — with him, and also two turtles which had
been caught on the island. The squadron anchored in Dirk
Hartog's Reede on the 4th of February, and remained there until
the 1 2th day of that month.

The anonymous author of the Journaal relates that on the
6th of February many turtles were seen, and also a very large
nest at the corner of a rock ; the nest resembled that of a stork,
but was probably that of an osprey, which places its nest on a
rock — often on a rock surrounded by water.

De Vlaming quitted the Australian coast at 21° S. lat., and
proceeded to Batavia, where he arrived on the 2Oth of March,
1697.

* Wedge-tailed Eagles and also Ospreys build nests of sticks.

NEW ZEALAND BIRDS IN 1772,

NICOLAS THOMAS MARION DUFRESNE was an
officer in the French navy, and was born at St. Malo
in 1729. In 1771 he was commissioned at his own desire to
restore to the island of his birth a Tahitian who had accompanied
Bougainville to France. He was also charged to ascertain if
a continent or islands existed in the Southern Ocean whence
useful products might be exported to Mauritius or Reunion.

The middle of the eighteenth century is approximately the
period in which the collection and classification of exotic plants
and animals became one of the chief objects of exploratory
voyages. This was also one of the aims of the expedition under
the command of Marion and Commerson, a botanist who had
accompanied De Bougainville, was to have accompanied Marion
also. But he was unable to go, so that no botanist and
also no zoologist made the voyage. Crozet, however, who was
second in command of the Mascarin^ has left not a few observa-
tions relating to the birds which he saw at sea during the voyage,
or in the countries which he visited. They are embodied in his
book Nouveau Voyage a la Mer du Sud.

The native of Tahiti fell sick shortly after the commencement
of the voyage, and was put ashore in Madagascar, where he died.
One of the objects of the voyage thus ceased to exist. The first
undiscovered land which was sighted after leaving Madagascar
was named Terre d'Esp£rance, and subsequently, by Cook, Prince

32 New Zealand Birds in 1772

Edward Island. Near it a collision with the Mascarin caused the
partial disablement of the Marquis de Castries ; the search for a
southern continent was therefore abandoned, and it was resolved
to visit the countries which had been discovered by Tasman in
the seventeenth century.

Crozet's first observation relating to sea-birds was made on
the 8th of January, 1772, about twelve days after leaving the
Cape of Good Hope. Terns were then in view, and thereafter,
until the ijth of that month, Terns and Gulls were frequently
seen. Shortly after the latter date Du Clesmeur, who was in
command of the Marquis de Castries ^ sighted another island which
was named He de la Prise de Possession, and which has been
renamed Marion Island. Crozet landed upon it, and relates
that the sea-birds which were nesting upon it continued to sit on
their eggs or to feed their young regardless of his presence.
There were amongst the birds penguins, Cape petrels (' damiers'),
and cormorants. Crozet also mentions divers — * plongeons.' It
is doubtful to what birds he alludes under this name — a name
which is usually applied to the Colymbidae, a family which has
no representative in the seas of the southern hemisphere.

The terns which Crozet saw were probably of the species
Sterna vittafa, which breeds on the islands of St. Paul and
Amsterdam. It also frequents the Tristan da Cunha Group, and
Gough Island and Kerguelen Island, so that it enjoys a wide
distribution in the Southern Ocean. The gulls may have been
Dominican Gulls (Larus dominie anus) , which are to be found at a
considerable distance from any continental land. The penguins
which frequent the seas adjacent to the islands which Marion
named He de la Caverne, lies Froides, and He Aride are dptcnodytes
pat agonic a ^ P y go s cells papua, Catarrhactes chrysocome, and Calar-
rhactes chrysolophus. The eggs of the last-named penguin have

New Zealand Birds in 1772 33

been found on the He Aride, which is now known as Crozet
Island, and the whole group as the Crozet Islands. The Cape
Petrel (Daption capensis) nests on Tristan da Cunha and Ker-
guelen Island. A Cormorant (Phalacrocorax verrucosus) inhabits
Kerguelen Island, but its occurrence on the Crozet Islands is
doubtful. Finally, Crozet saw on the island on which he landed
a white bird, which he mistook for a white pigeon, and argues
that a country producing seeds for the nurture of pigeons must
exist in the vicinity. This bird was probably the Sheath-bill
(Chionarchus crozettensis) of the Crozet Islands.

The next land visited was Tasmania, where the vessels cast
anchor on the east side of the island. Like their Dutch pre-
decessors, the French mariners bestowed the names of European
birds upon the birds which they saw in these new lands, and it
would be an idle task to seek the equivalents of the ousels,
thrushes, and turtle-doves which Crozet saw in Tasmania. There
can be no doubt, however, about his pelicans, for Pelecanus con-
spicillatus still nests on the east coast of the island or on islets
adjacent to the coast.

The duration of Crozet's sojourn in New Zealand was about
four months in the autumn and winter of 1772. The vessels
anchored in the Bay of Islands. Crozet has given a long enume-
ration of the birds which he saw in New Zealand. We will not
seek to find what his wheatears and wagtails, starlings and larks,
ousels and thrushes may have been, but we may make an excep-
tion in favour of his black thrushes with white tufts (' grives
noires a huppes blanches'). These birds were evidently Tuis
(Prosthemadura Nov<e-Zealandi<e).

Crozet distributes the birds which he saw in New Zealand
under four heads, as birds of the forest, of the lakes, of the open
country, and of the sea-coast. In the forests were Wood Pigeons

34 New Zealand Birds in 1772

as large as fowls, and bright blue in colour ; no doubt the one
pigeon of New Zealand (Hemiphaga Nov<e-Zealandi<e) is alluded to
in this description. Two parrots are mentioned, one of which
was very large and black or dusky in colour diversified with red
and blue, and the other was a small lory, which resembled the
lories in the island of Gola.* It was no doubt a Cy anorhamphus —
a genus of which there are in New Zealand more than one
species. The large parrot may be the Kaka, although there is
no blue in the plumage of the Kaka (Nestor meridionalis}. There
is blue under the wing of the Kea, but the Kea (Nestor notabilis)
is not a bird of the North, but of the South Island.

In the open country were the passerine birds, which Crozet
mentions by the names of European birds, and also a quail
(Coturnix Nov*- Zealand**) which has lately become extinct.

On the lakes were ducks and teals in abundance, and a c poule
bleue,' similar to the 4 poules bleues ' of Madagascar, India, and
China. The ' poule bleue * was doubtless the Swamp Hen or
Purple Gallinule which, because of its rich purple plumage and
red feet, is a conspicuous object in New Zealand landscapes.
The species which inhabits New Zealand, Tasmania, and Eastern
Australia is Porphyrio melanotus.

On the sea-coast were cormorants, curlews, and black-and-
white egrets. The curlews, which pass the summer in New
Zealand and the remainder of the year in islands of the
Pacific Ocean, are of the species Numenius cyanopus. They leave
New Zealand in autumn, with the exception of a few individuals
which remain in favoured localities. The ' aigrettes blanches et
noires ' were perhaps reef herons ; the black bird of the form of
an oyster-catcher, and possessing a red bill and red feet, was
doubtless the Sooty Oyster-catcher (Htematopus unicolor), which

* I am unable to identify the lories of Gola Island.

o

I

w

nj

PQ

New Zealand Birds in 1772 35

in Tasmania is known as the Redbill. Terns and gannets were
amongst the birds of the coastal waters. Of New Zealand terns,
Sterna front ali s and S. nereis are the species which are seen most
frequently. The ' goelette blanche ' may have been Gygis
Candida. The gannets may have been c manches de velours — the
name by which French mariners knew the Masked Gannet (Sula
cyanops). The body of this gannet is white ; the wings are rich
chocolate brown. It is a bird of the tropical and sub-tropical
seas of the world and its appearance in New Zealand waters is
infrequent.

From New Zealand the two vessels, now under the
command of Duclesmeur, sailed for Guam and thence to the
Philippine Islands, but as Crozet's observations on the birds
which he saw after he quitted New Zealand are of little
importance, we will follow him no further.

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