362 



BIRDS AND FISH. 



[1830. 



The birds are numerous, and beautiful beyond description ; and I 

 was at a loss which most to admire, the lovely tints of their plumage 

 or the sweetness of their liquid melody, with which the forests were 

 rendered vocal. Two, in particular, attracted the most of my atten- 

 tion ; one of them a small green bird, and the other a bird about the 

 size of a quail, with a crest very much like that of the maccaroni-pen- 

 guin, only much richer, and the back of a changeable blue. These 

 two birds are the most delightful singers that I ever heard. They 

 may both very justly be called mocking-birds, for their melody is so 

 sweet, and their notes so varied, that one would imagine himself sur- 

 rounded by a hundred different kinds of birds, all singing at once. 

 There are three or four other kinds of birds that sing very sweetly, 

 and several kinds that I never heard sing. I also saw a species of 

 the cuckoo ; and the gross-beak, about the size of a thrush, is common. 

 Parrots and paroquets are very numerous, and generally of the most 

 beautiful plumage. There are likewise a variety of large wood- 

 pigeons. 



But the most curious bird which I saw on this island is called by 

 some the golden-winged pigeon. It is remarkable for having most of the 

 wing-feathers marked with golden yellow, changing its colours, ac- 

 cording to the different lights in which it is viewed, to green and 

 bronze ; forming, when the wings are closed, two bars across the back. 

 The bill and legs are red ; the lower part of the neck and the fore- 

 part of the head are of a dove-colour, and a dark-brownish red passes 

 each eye. The two middle feathers of the tail are lighter than the 

 other parts of the plumage, which inclines to a bright lead-colour, with 

 a bar of black near the ends. 



I also saw two kinds of falcons, and three or four species of owls. 

 Among the rocks we found black sea-pies, with red bills, and crested 

 shags of a leaden colour. About the shores are a few sea-gulls, black 

 herons, wild ducks, plovers, sand-larks, snipes, rooks, nellies, and sev- 

 eral kinds of penguins. 



Fish are plenty, and of many varieties. The principal kinds which 

 fell under our observation while we lay at this island were, rock-cod, 

 mackerel, black-fish, skate, blue dolphins, conger-eels, elephant-fish, 

 mullets, soles, flounders, blue porgies, gurnards, nurses, hake, paracu- 

 tas, parrot-fish, leather-jackets, and a kind of small salmon. Of all 

 these, the salmon, rock-cod, and black-fish are the best, being of su- 

 perior quality. These are the only scale-fish that came under my 

 notice ; though I have no doubt but there are many more species of 

 which we know nothing. 



Of the different kinds of shellfish the most abundant and most de- 

 licious are muscles, some of which are from twelve to fifteen inches 

 in length, and equal, in every respect, to a Blue Point oyster. There 

 are many others of a smaller size, which are equally fat and palatable. 

 Clams are plenty on the beaches at low tide, and excellent-flavoured 

 oysters are found in many places, but their size is very diminutive. 

 Besides these there are periwinkles, limpets, wilks, sea-eggs, star-fish, 

 sea-ears, crabs, crawfish, and many other kinds unknown in this 

 country. 



