The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay: With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1789)Phillip, Arthur
History
The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay: With an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1789)
Phillip, Arthur
Natural history -- Australia -- New South Wales; New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Norfolk Island
"Length nineteen or twenty inches: bill three inches, stout and of a pale
yellow: nostrils pervious: the crown of the head black; the feathers
longish, and forming a kind of pensile crest at the nape; the rest of the
head, neck, and under parts of the body, white: back and wings pale
cinereous grey: quills grey, with the ends dusky; the inner webs, half
way from the base, white: tail grey, forked; the end half of the other
feathers white; the last is exceeded by the first an inch: legs black.
Supposed to inhabit China; seen also, or very similar, from the
Friendly Isles; also found at Hapaee, one of the Sandwich Islands."
Syn. Vol. vi. p. 351.
NORFOLK ISLAND PETREL. Order IX. Web-Footed. Genus Xc.
Length sixteen inches, bill one inch and an half long, black, and very
hooked at the tip: the head as far as the eyes, the chin and throat,
waved, brown and dusky white: the rest of the body on the upper parts of
a sooty brown, the under of a deep ash colour; the inner part of the
quills, especially next the base, very pale, nearly white, and the wings,
when closed, exceed the tail by about an inch: the tail is much rounded
in shape, and consists of twelve feathers, of the same colour as the
upper parts of the body: the legs are pale yellow, the outer toe black
the whole length, the middle one half way from the tip, the webs also
correspond, the outer one being black, except just at the base; and the
inner one black for about one third from the end: the claws black; the
spur, which serves in place of a back toe, is also black.
This inhabits Norfolk Island, and burrows in the sand like a rabbit,
lying hid in the holes throughout the day, and coming out of evenings in
quest of food. This bird appears to differ so very little from the dark
grey Petrel of Cook's Voyage, vol. i. p. 258. that it is not improbable
it may prove to be the same species. This is described in the General
Synopsis of Birds, vol. vi. p. 399. under the name of Grey Petrel; as
also another species, in p. 400. by the name of White-breasted Petrel,
differing only in the breast from our specimen.
BRONZE-WINGED PIGEON. Order IV. Columbine. Genus XLVI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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