of these were not bigger than larks, some no bigger than wrens, all
singing with great variety of fine shrill notes; and we saw some of their
nests with young ones in them. The water-fowls are ducks (which had
young ones now, this being the beginning of the spring in these parts),
curlews, galdens, crab-catchers, cormorants, gulls, pelicans, and some
water-fowl, such as I have not seen anywhere besides.

The land animals that we saw here were only a sort of raccoons, different
from those of the West Indies, chiefly as to their legs, for these have
very short forelegs, but go jumping upon them as the others do (and like
them are very good meat), and a sort of guanos, of the same shape and
size with other guanos described, but differing from them in three
remarkable particulars; for these had a larger and uglier head, and had
no tail, and at the rump, instead of the tail there, they had a stump of
a tail, which appeared like another head, but not really such, being
without mouth or eyes; yet this creature seemed by this means to have a
head at each end, and, which may be reckoned a fourth difference, the
legs also seemed all four of them to be forelegs, being all alike in
shape and length, and seeming by the joints and bending to be made as if
they were to go indifferently either head or tail foremost. They were
speckled black and yellow like toads, and had scales or knobs on their
backs like those of crocodiles, plated on to the skin, or stuck into it,
as part of the skin. They are very slow in motion, and when a man comes
nigh them they will stand still and hiss, not endeavouring to get away.
Their livers are also spotted black and yellow; and the body, when
opened, hath a very unsavoury smell. I did never see such ugly creatures
anywhere but here. The guanos I have observed to be very good meat, and
I have often eaten of them with pleasure; but though I have eaten of
snakes, crocodiles, and alligators, and many creatures that look
frightfully enough, and there are but few I should have been afraid to