AO Forgotten Feathers: ^^J 



Emu 



July 



Latin, and affirms that they were named by the Dutch " a 

 pinguetudine qua erant pr?editje." But this is certainly an error, 

 for the name in some form or other was employed of great 

 auks before 1595, in which year it was employed of Penguins 

 by the Dutch. In a narrative of the first expedition of the 

 Dutch to the Eastern Archipelago, written by " G. M. A. W. L." 

 (William Lodewijckszoon), and published in Amsterdam in 1597, 

 Penguins are mentioned. The work was translated into English 

 by " W. P." (William Phillip), and this translation was published 

 in London in 1598. It is a very scarce book, and the title of it 

 does not appear in the printed " Catalogue of Printed Books in 

 the British Museum," But one or more examples must have 

 existed in 18 12, for it was reprinted in London in that year in 

 " A Selection of Curious Rare and Early Voyages." From this 

 reprint I extract the following sentences : — " The second of 

 August (1595) we saw the land of the Cape de bona Sperance 

 and the fourth of the same Month we entered into a hauen 

 called Agne Sambras (i.e., Agua de Sam Bras) where wee 

 ankered and found good depth at 8 or 9 fadome water, sandy 

 ground. The 5 day we went on shore to gather fruite, therewith 

 to refresh our sicke men that were thirty or 33 in one shippe. 

 In this bay lyeth a smal Islande wherein are many birdes 

 called Pyncuius (sz'c) and sea Wolues that are taken with mens 

 handes." In Dutch editions of the narrative the name of 

 the birds is printed " Pinguyns." " Pyncuius " is doubtless a 

 typographical error, and " Pyncuins " the correct reading. 

 Pylstart Island received its name from Abel Janszoon Tasman, 

 as he has recorded in his Journal under the date January 20, 

 1643, in the words : — "Diteijlandt hebben wij de naam gegeven 

 van het hooge pijlstaerts eijlandt om datt soo vies pijlstaerten 

 ware." Pijlstaert — in modern spelling Pijlstaart — is the Pin- 

 tail. One Polynesian Pintail is known — Dafila modesta — but 

 it appears to have been recorded only from Sidney Island, in 

 the Phoenix Group, and it is, I think, more probable that it was 

 the Australian Wild Duck (Anas superciliosd) which Tasman 

 saw, for that Duck has a range in Polynesia which extends from 

 the Pelew Islands to the Society Islands, and includes the Fiji, 

 Samoa, and Tonga Islands. The Patearctic Pintail {^Dafila 

 acuta) in its summer plumage is nearly as dark in colour as the 

 Australian Wild Duck, and it is at that season destitute of the 

 long tail-feathers from which it derives its English and Dutch 

 names. Both Ducks have green specula. 



Cuckoo Caught. — A Cuckoo, flying between an outhouse 

 and a shrub on The Range, became entangled in a spider's web, 

 fell to the ground, and was picked up by a spectator of the 

 accident. — TJie Mvrning Bulletin, Rockhampton. 



