P E T R E L- .397 



fphere; being ken by our laft: navigators in lat. 44. 10. N. in 

 March* 5 off the coafts of Nootka Sound in Aprils ; and again 

 further north, on the American coaft, in May, in pairs % : from 

 which may not unaptly be concluded the pojfibility of their 

 breeding in the north, though as yet no one has mentioned with 

 certainty where they propagate their fpecies : if it be in thejoutb, 

 they mull migrate in the fame manner as the Albatrofs, which is 

 not unlikely, as they are frequently found in company with that 

 bird, and it muft be confeffed that they are found in the greateft 

 quantity in thejouthem regions. Captain Cook met with them in 

 vaft numbers in Chrijimas Harbour, Kerguelen's Land§, in Decem- 

 ber, where they were fo tame that they fuffered themfelves to 

 be knocked on the head by our failors with a. flick, on the. 

 beach. Thefe are carnivorous birds, feeding on the dead car- \ 



cafes offeals or birds, though their chief food is undoubtedly fijh. 

 They are for the moft part ranked as Albatrojfes by the Jailors ; 

 but by the more difcerning of them are well known by the name 

 of Mother Cary's Geeje; and are thought to be very good food |[. 



• Cook's laft Voy. ii. p. 258. f Id. p. 299. < 



J Id. p. 352. — If we do not miftake, this is one of the forts called Glupijfaa, 

 mentioned as fo frequent in all the iflands between Kamtfcbatka and America,, 

 that they are covered with them. One of thefe is faid to be as big as a Goofe 

 or an Eagle. Bill crooked> yellowilh : eyes as large as thofe of an Owl : colour 

 black, intermixed with white fpots all over the body. Two hundred of them 

 have been feen at once feeding on a dead Whale. — See Hift. Kamtf. p. 156. 

 § Cook's laft Foj.i. p. 87. || Id. ii. p. 205. 



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