A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15 - Forming A Complete History Of The Origin And Progress Of Navigation, Discovery, And Commerce, By Sea And Land, From The Earliest Ages To The Present Time by Robert Kerr
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page 30 of 713 (04%)
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their sleep, (for they are a sluggish sleepy animal), they would raise
up their heads; snort and snarl, and look as fierce as if they meant to devour us; but as we advanced upon them they always run away, so that they are downright bullies. The penguin is an amphibious bird, so well known to most people, that I shall only observe, they are here in prodigious numbers, so that we could knock down as many as we pleased with a stick. I cannot say they are good eating. I have indeed made several good meals of them, but it was for want of better victuals. They either do not breed here, or else this was not the season; for we saw neither eggs nor young ones. Shags breed here in vast numbers; and we carried on board not a few, as they are very good eating. They take certain spots to themselves, and build their nests near the edge of the cliffs on little hillocks, which are either those of the sword-grass, or else they are made by the shags building on them from year to year. There is another sort rather smaller than these, which breed in the cliffs of rocks. The geese are of the same sort we found in Christmas Sound; we saw but few, and some had young ones. Mr Forster shot one which was different from these, being larger, with a grey plumage, and black feet. The others make a noise exactly like a duck. Here were ducks, but not many; and several of that sort which we called race-horses. We shot some, and found them to weigh twenty-nine or thirty pounds; those who eat of them said they were very good. The oceanic birds were gulls, terns, Port Egmont hens, and a large brown bird, of the size of an albatross, which Pernety calls quebrantahuessas. We called them Mother Carey's geese, and found them pretty good eating; |
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