84 
remained in the Sound till the 11th of October, and the officers de- 
voted much of their time to exploring and surveying' the neighbour- 
hood and especially the two inner harbours. “In our way out of 
the north-eastern harbour/ 7 says Vancouver, “the boats grounded 
on a bank we had not before perceived; this was covered with oysters 
of a most delicious flavour on which we sumptuously regaled; and 
loading, in about half-an-hour, the boats for our friends on board, 
we commemorated the discovery by calling it Oyster Harbour. 77 
On October 7th, “as we proceeded to the upper part of Oyster 
Harbour, our attention was directed to several large black swans 1 
in very stately attitudes swimming on the water, and when flying 
discovering the under parts of their wings and breasts to be white; 
this is all the description we were enabled to give of them, since 
they were excessively shy, and we very indifferent marksmen. 77 
In his general summary of the results of his observations lie 
writes as follows : — 
“Of the animal kingdom, so far as relates to the tenants of the 
earth, little information was derived. The onty quadruped seen 
was one dead kangaroo; the dung, however, of these or some other 
animals feeding on vegetables, was almost everywhere met with, 
and frequently so fresh as to indicate that the animal could not 
be far removed. 
“Of the birds that live in or resort to the woods, the vulture 
may be said to be the most common, as we saw several of this species, 
or at least birds that were so considered. Hawks of the falcon tribe 
with several others of that genus; a bird much resembling the 
English crow, parrots, parroquets, and a variety of small birds, 
some of which sung very melodiously, were those which attracted 
our attention the most; but all were so excessively wild and watch- 
ful that few specimens could be procured. 
“Of the waterfowl, the black swan seemed as numerous as any 
other species of aquatic birds in the neighbourhood of Oyster Har- 
bour, but they were seen in no other place. There were also black 
and white pelicans 2 of a large sort, seen at a distance; and though 
ducks were in great numbers, we were very unsuccessful in taking 
them. A very peculiar one was shot, 3 of a darkish-grey plumage, 
with a bag like that of a lizard hanging under its throat, which 
smelt so intolerably of musk that it scented nearly the whole ship. 
There were also many grey curlews, 4 and sea-pies 5 ; of the latter we 
procured a few which were excellent eating. The aquatic birds 
before enumerated, with shags, the common gull 0 , two or three sorts 
of tern, and a few small penguins' of a bluish colour, included the 
whole of the feathered tribe in the vicinity of the shores. 
1 Chenopis atrata, Latham. 
2 Pelecanus conspicillatus, Temm. 
3 Biziura lobata, Shaw (named from tnis specimen.) 
4 Numenius cyanopus, Vieillot. 
5 Haematopus ostralegus, Linn. 
0 Lams novaehollandiae, Stephens. 
7 Eudyptula minor, Forster. 
