A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The birds which frequent the waters and the shores, are not more
numerous than the others. The quebrantahuessos, gulls, and shags, were
seen off the coast, and the two last also frequent the Sound. They are
of the common sorts, the shags being our cormorant or water-crow. We
saw two sorts of wild-ducks; one black, with a white head, which were
in considerable flocks, the other white, with a red bill, but of a
larger size; and the greater _lumme_, or diver, found in our northern
countries. There were also seen, once or twice, some swans flying
across the Sound to the northward, but we knew nothing of their
haunts. On the shores, besides the sand-piper, described above, we
found another, about the size of a lark, which bears a great affinity
to the burre, and a plover differing very little from our common
sea-lark.
Fish are more plentiful in quantity than birds, though the variety is
not very great; and yet, from several circumstances, it is probable,
that even the variety is considerably increased at certain seasons.
The principal sorts, which we found in great numbers, are the common
herring, but scarcely exceeding seven inches in length; a smaller
sort, which is the same with the anchovy, or sardine, though rather
larger; a white, or silver-coloured bream, and another of a gold-brown
colour, with many narrow longitudinal blue stripes. The herrings and
sardines, doubtless, come in large shoals, and only at stated seasons,
as is common with that sort of fish. The bream of both sorts, may
be reckoned the next to these in quantity; and the full-grown ones
weighed, at least, a pound. The other fish, which are all scarce,
are a small brown kind of _sculpin_, such as is found on the coast
of Norway, another of a brownish red cast, frost-fish, a large one,
somewhat resembling the bull-head, with a tough skin, destitute of
scales; and now and then, toward the time of our leaving the Sound,
the natives brought a small brownish cod, spotted with white, and a
red fish of the same size, which some of our people said they had seen
in the strait of Magalhaens, besides another differing little from
the hake. There are also considerable numbers of those fish called the
_chimaerae_, or little sea-wolves, by some, which is akin to, and about
the size of, the _pezegallo_, or elephant-fish. Sharks, likewise,
sometimes frequent the Sound, for the natives have some of their teeth
in their possession; and we saw some pieces of ray, or scate, which
seemed to have been pretty large. The other marine animals that ought
to be mentioned here, are a small cruciated _medusa_, or blubber,
star-fish, which differ somewhat from the common ones, two small sorts
of crabs, and two others which the natives brought, one of them of
a thick, tough, gelatinous consistence, and the other a sort of
membranaceous tube or pipe, both which are probably taken from
the rocks. And we, also, purchased from them once a very large
cuttle-fish.
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