DY TOM IKEDALE. 775 



of the body, and is so heavy that I think it must fatigue the bird 

 much in flying. This Bird of Providence, which I may with 

 great propriety call it, appeared to me to resemble that seabird 

 in England called the puffin; they had a strong fishy taste, but 

 our keen appetites relished them very well; the eggs were excel- 

 lent." As a footnote is added "For a further description, and 

 an engraving of this bird, see the Norfolk Island Petrel in 

 Phillip's ' Voyage,' 4to edition." 



In White's " Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales "(1790) 

 we have the discovery of Lord Howe Island chronicled, and get 

 the following account of the birds(p. 135) : — " They also found 

 on it in great plenty a kind of fowl, resembling much the Guinea 

 Fowl in shape and size, but widely different in colour, they being 

 in general all white, with a red fleshy substance rising, like a 

 cock's comb, from the head, and not unlike a piece of sealing- 

 wax. These not being birds of flight, nor in the least wild, the 

 sailors availing themselves of their gentleness and inability to take 

 wing from their pursuits, easily struck them down with sticks." 

 On p. 238 is described The White Fulica, Fulica alha, accom- 

 panied by a good figure. 



More often quoted has been Phillip's " Voyage to Botany Bay."^ 

 This was published by T. Stockdale, in 1789, and is a compilation 

 probably edited by the publisher. These accounts differ in details 

 from the ones I have quoted, and I believe this is due to the 

 editing. On p. 91, regarding Norfolk Island, is written : — " The 

 woods are inhabited by innumerable tribes of birds, many of 

 them very gay in plumage. The most useful are pigeons, which 

 are very numerous, and a bird not unlike the Guinea fowl, except 

 in colour(being chiefly white), both of which were at first so tame 

 as to suffer themselves to be taken by hand." On p. 182, where 

 the discovery of Lord Howe Island is chronicled, is found : — " On 

 the shore there are plenty of ganets, and a land fowl of a dusky 

 brown colour, with a bill about four inches long, and feet like 

 those of a chicken. . . . There are also many very lai'ge 

 pigeons, and the white birds, resembling the Guinea fowl, which 

 Tvere found at Norfolk Island, were seen liere also in great num- 



