150 
NOTE ON THE BIRDS MET WITH ON THE SWAN RIVER BY 
V LAMING H IN 1697. 
By 
W. B. Alexander, M.A., 
Keeper of Biology in the W.A. Museum. 
(Read 8th June, 1915.) 
When I wrote Part I. of my paper on “The History of Zoology 
in Western Australia 5 ’ (Journal of W.A. Nat. Hist, and Sci. Soc. 
V., p. 49), I had to rely for the narrative of Vlamingh’s voyage on 
the translation given by Major (Early Voyages to Terra Australis, 
p. 120). 
This is as follows: “On the 11th (January), at break of day, 
we again ascended the river, and saw many swans (our boat 
knocked over nine or ten), some rotganzen, geese, some divers, etc.” 
(p. 124); and on the next page: “The men, the birds, the swans, 
the rotganzen, koopganzen, the geese, the cockatoos, the parroquets, 
etc., all fled at the sight of us.” 
Mr. F. E. Blaauw was good enough to inform me that “rotgan- 
zen” was an old Dutch word for cormorants, and that “koopganzen” 
was probably a misprint for “kropganzen,” meaning pelicans. 
In my paper I therefore substituted cormorants for rotganzen 
and pelicans for koopganzen. 
Since then I have been fortunate enough to obtain a copy of the 
original Dutch account printed at Amsterdam in 1701, which Major 
states is “exceedingly scarce.” 
In this the two passages already cited stand as follows: “Den 
Uden m et den dag, voeren wy de Rivier weder op, en zagen veele 
Swaanen (daar onze Schuit’er wel negen of tien af schoot) Rot- 
ganzen, Duikers, enz;” and “ 5 t Was ook alles schigtig voor ons, zo 
Mensclien als Gevogelte, Swaanen, Rotganzen, Kropganzen, Kake- 
toeen, Parkieten, enz.” 
It will be seen in the first place that Mr. Blaauw was right in 
his surmise that koopganzen was a misprint for kropganzen. 
Secondly we find that there is no mention of geese in the orig- 
inal. Evidently Major’s document should have read “rotganzen 
(geese?),” and again “rotganzen, koopganzen (geese?).” 
Now there can be no question that the most striking birds 
likely to be seen on the river at the present day are Cormorants, 
Pelicans and Black Swans, but in writing the passage before, I 
wondered what sort of geese could have been seen there, and specu- 
