io8 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



changes of wind were again due to the nearness of land 2^2 and 

 that consequently we ought to turn more to the south without 

 paying attention to the parallel, inasmuch as the land extended 

 farther south and infallibly was to be expected farther south. 2« 

 This was further corroborated by our noticing sea parrots [and] 

 the John of Ghent [John of Gaunt] {Pelecan. Bassanus) and other 

 gulls 244 flying constantly from north and west to the south, 



2« See, above, footnote 144, last paragraph, 



2« Instead of "and infallibly was to be expected farther south" the 

 MS has: "and doubtless was to be expected on the 54th degree." See 

 also, above, footnote 144, first two paragraphs. 



24* Instead of "sea parrots . . . other gulls" the MS has: "anates 

 arcticas Clash, Larum Joh. v. Rent [sic] dictum, Laros Wayel [sic] 

 Anglis dictos." By Anas arctica the pre-Linnean writers generally under- 

 stood the Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica (Linnaeus), and John Ray 

 (Synopsis methodica avium et piscium, London, 17 13, p. 120) describes 

 it as Anas arcticus Clus. The " Clash" in the MS is undoubtedly a lapsus 

 for "Clusii." Pallas correctly renders it "Seepapageien." The Pacific 

 representative, which Steller saw, is Fratercula corniculata (Naumann). 



"Larum Joh. v. Rent dictum," the gull called John of Ghent, of the 

 MS is hard to interpret. Pallas in the printed text suggests the gannet, 

 Pelecanus bassanus ( = Sula bassana (Linnaeus)), and in his "Zoographia 

 rosso-asiatica " (Vol. 2, 1826, p. 307) he specifically states that Steller 

 during his American voyage saw it rather frequently flying among the 

 petrels. However, a few pages later, under Catarractes skua, with which 

 he synonymizes Ray's "Cornish gannet" (Ray, Synopsis, p. 128) and 

 Clusius' "Skua hojeri," he says that this was undoubtedly the bird which 

 Steller on various occasions had taken for an albatross. It is to be noted, 

 however, that neither the gannet nor the skua occur in the North Pacific. 

 While it is true that the Dutch by "Jan van Ghent" mean the Sula 

 bassana it is highly probable that Steller did not know this bird except 

 from description, and as there is no reference to the name Jan van Ghent 

 in Ray's "Synopsis," the book on birds we know Steller had with him, it 

 is permissible to suggest that he confused this name with that of "Skua 

 hoieri" and "Sula hoieri" of Clusius as quoted by Ray (Synopsis, pp. 

 128 and 123). The former is the true skua {Megalestri skua (Bruennich)), 

 but Ray says he "believes it to be the gannet of the Cornish," while the 

 former he refers, though somewhat doubtfully, to his Anser bassanus, 

 the true gannet. It is consequently not possible even to say whether the 

 birds seen by Steller were white or black, though more probably the lat- 

 ter, since the only light-colored bird in the North Pacific which even 



