A VOYAGE TO 
36 
1776. place. The moll confiderable are feals, or (as we tiled to 
.December. ca q f ea bears; being that fort called the tirline feal. 
Thefe come alhore to reft or breed; but they were not very 
numerous, which is not to be wondered at, as it is known 
that thefe animals rather frequent out-rocks, and little 
iflands lying off coafts, than bays or inlets. They were, at 
this time, fhedding their hair, and fo tame, that we killed 
what number we chofe. 
No other quadruped, either of the fea or of the land 
kind, was feen; but a great number of birds, viz. ducks, 
petrels, albatroffes, fhags, gulls, and fea-fwallows. 
The ducks are about the fize of a teal or widgeon; 
but fomewhat different in colour from either. They were 
in tolerable plenty about the ftdes of the hills, or even 
lower ; and we killed a confiderable number, which were 
good, and without the leaft fifhy tafte. We met with 
fome of the fame fort at the ifland of Georgia, in our late 
voyage. 
The Cape petrel, or Pintado bird; the fmall blue one, 
which is always feen at fea; and the fmall black one, or 
Mother Carey’s Chicken, are not here in great numbers. 
But we found a neft of the firft with an egg in it, about the 
ftze of a pullet’s ; and the fecond, though fcarce, was met 
with in fome holes like rabbit-burrows. 
Another fort, which is the largeft of all the petrels, and 
called by the feamen Mother Carey’s Goofe, is in greater 
numbers; and fo tame, that at firft we could kill them 
with a ftick upon the beach. They are not inferior in fize 
to an albatrofs, and are carnivorous, feeding on the dead 
carcaffes of feals or birds, that were thrown into the fea. 
Their colour is a footy brown, with a greenifh bill and 
3 feet 5 
