Page:A voyage round the world, in His Britannic Majesty's sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (IA b30413849 0001).pdf/122
quaker bird, from its having a greyish-brown colour. Many birds of all these different species surrounded us on the 8th of December, the wind still continuing very high, and the sea very turbulent.Tuesday 8. We now likewise saw pinguins[1] for the first time, and some bunches of sea-weed, of the species called the sea-bamboo (fucus buccinalis Lin.). These appearances greatly favoured the hope of meeting with land, as it had hitherto been held uncontroverted that weeds, especially rockweeds, (such as these were) and pinguins were never to be met with at a great distance from shores; but experience has shewn that these prognostics are not to be relied upon, and probably derive all their credit from single accidental proofs in their favour, supported by the name of some celebrated mariner. Future observations on the nature of floating rock-weeds, and drift-wood, might perhaps lead to some more determinate conclusions; for as these weeds must have been at first detached from the rocks on which they grew, it is probable that from the degree of freshness or of putridity which
↑These birds, which since the time of Sir John Narborough, have been repeatedly mentioned by almost every navigator that has visited the Southern extremities of America, are so well known to the English reader, from the accounts of Anson, Byron, Bougainville, Pernetty, &c. that it is scarce necessary to describe them. They are in a manner amphibious creatures, and their wings are unfit for flying, but shaped like strong fleshy membranes, which perform all the functions of fins. There are upwards of ten different species known to the naturalists at present.
