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Both which we eat and accounted good food, especialy the former which are not at all inferior to those of Europe. Beside these there are hawks, owls and Quails differing but little at first sight from those of Europe, and several small birds that sing much more melodiously than any I have heard. The sea coast is also frequently visited by many Oceanick birds as Albatrosses, Shearwaters, Pintados &c. and has also a few of the birds calld by Sr Jno Narbourough Penguins, which are truly what the French call Nuance, between birds and fishes, as their feathers especialy on their wings differ but little from Scales; and their wings themselves, which they use only in diving and by no means in atempting to fly or even accelerate their motion on the surface of the water (as young birds are observd to do), might thence almost as properly be calld fins.
Neither are insects in greater plenty than birds: a few Butterflys and Beetles, flesh flies very like those in Europe, Musquetos, and sandflies maybe exactly the same as those of North America, make up the whole list. Of these last however, which are most Justly accounted the curse of any countrey where they abound, we never met with any great abundance; a few indeed there were in almost every place we went into but never enough to make any occupations
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) 167, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-197.html