The Project Gutenberg EBook of Essays on early ornithology and kindred
subjects, by James R. McClymont

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net


Title: Essays on early ornithology and kindred subjects

Author: James R. McClymont

Release Date: February 4, 2008 [EBook #24506]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS ON EARLY ORNITHOLOGY ***




Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)







[p i]
ESSAYS ON EARLY ORNITHOLOGY

[p ii]
200 copies printed

[p iv]

Casuarius uniappendiculatus, juv.

[p v]
ESSAYS
ON
EARLY ORNITHOLOGY
AND KINDRED SUBJECTS

BY
JAMES R. McCLYMONT
M.A., AUTHOR OF ‘PEDRALUAREZ CABRAL’
‘VICENTE AÑES PINÇON’

WITH THREE PLATES

LONDON
BERNARD QUARITCH LTD.
11 GRAFTON STREET, NEW BOND STREET
1920

[p vii]
CONTENTS

PAGE

The Rukh of Marco Polo

3

The Penguins and the Seals of the Angra de Sam Bràs

7

The Banda Islands and the Bandan Birds

15

The Etymology of the Name ‘Emu’

21

Australian Birds in 1697

25

New Zealand Birds in 1772

31

[p ix]
LIST OF PLATES

I.

Casuarius uniappendiculatus, Blyth. (juv.). From an example in the British Museum of Natural History. By permission of the Director.

Frontispiece

This plate should be compared with that opposite p. 22, which represents a cassowary with two wattles—probably an immature Casuarius galeatus, Vieill. for that is the species which is believed to have been brought alive to Europe by the Dutch in 1597. An immature example of that species was not available for reproduction.

II.

Abris des wvnderbaren Vogels Eme. From the fifth edition of Erste Schiffart in die orientalische Indien so die holländische Schiff im Martio 1595 aussgefahren vnd im Augusto 1597 wiederkommen verzicht … Durch Levinvm Hvlsivm. Editio Quinta. Getruckt zu Franckfurt am Mäyn durch Hartmann Palthenium in Verlegung der Hulfischen. Anno M.DC.xxv., From a copy of the book in the British Museum. By permission of the Keeper of Printed Books.

p. 22

III.

The Masked or Blue-faced Gannet (Sula cyanops, S. personata). From an example in the Royal Scottish Museum. By permission of the Director.

p. 35

In the Manuel d’Ornithologie (1828) Lesson writes: ‘Le Fou Manche de Velours, “manga de velado” des navigateurs portugais, que l’on dit être le fou de Bassan, est de moitié plus petit. Ce serait donc une race distincte.’ tom. II. p. 375. And in the Traité d’Ornithologie the same author amplifies thus what he has written: ‘Fou Manche de Velours; Sula dactylatra, Less. Zool. de la Coq., Texte, part. 2, p. 494. Espèce confondue avec le fou de Bassan adulte; est le manga de Velado des Portugais. Plumage blanc pur; ailes et queue noires; bec corné; tarses jaunes; la base du bec cerclée d’une peau nue, qui s’étend sur la gorge en forme de demi-cercle. Femelle: Grise. L’île de l’Ascension, les mers chaudes des Tropiques.’ Texte, p. 601.

[p1]
THE RUKH OF MARCO POLO

Marco Polo, had he confined himself to a sober narration of his travels, would have left to posterity a valuable record of the political institutions and national customs of the peoples of his day in the Far East. He was not satisfied with doing this, but added to his narrative a number of on-dit more or less marvellous in character, which he collected from credulous or inventive persons with whom he came into contact, principally from mariners and from other travellers.

Of these addenda to his story not one is more incredible than that of the rukh, and yet that addendum may be regarded as indicating the transition from the utterly incredible to the admixture of truth with fiction in bird-lore. For, whilst the rukh possessed some characteristics which are utterly fabulous, others are credible enough. We are told, for example, that it resembled an eagle, that it was carnivorous, that it possessed remarkable powers of flight, and that it visited islands which lay to the south of Zanzibar, within the influence of an ocean current which rendered difficult or impossible a voyage from these regions to India, and which therefore must have tended in a southerly direction. In this current we have no difficulty in recognising that of Mozambique. On the other hand, that the rukh had an expanse of wing of thirty paces, and that it could lift an elephant in its talons, are of course utterly incredible assertions.

The rukh therefore holds a position in bird-lore intermediate [p4] between that of the phœnix and that of the pelican fed upon the blood of its mother whose beak is tipped with red, or that of the barnacle goose, of which the name suggests the mollusc,1 the barnacle, and which was said to proceed from the mollusc or that of the bird of paradise, the feet of which were cut off by the Malay traders who sold the skins, and which were commonly reported never to have had feet, but to float perpetually in the air.

Thus two streams united into one floated the conception of the rukh—a mythological stream taking its rise from the simourgh of the Persians and a stream of fact taking its rise in the observation of a real bird which visited certain islands off the south-east coast of Africa, and which is said to have resembled an eagle and may have been a sea-eagle. With commendable reticence lexicographers tell us that ‘rukh’ was the name of a bird of mighty wing.


1 I.e., a fabulous mollusc; the barnacle is not now regarded as a mollusc.

[p5]
THE PENGUINS AND THE SEALS
OF THE
ANGRA DE SAM BRÀS

There exists an anonymous narrative of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama to India under the title Roteiro da Viagem de Vasco da Gama em MCCCCXCVII. Although it is called a roteiro, it is in fact a purely personal and popular account of the voyage, and does not contain either sailing directions or a systematic description of all the ports which were visited, as one might expect in a roteiro. There is no reason to believe that it was written by Vasco da Gama. An officer in such high authority would not be likely to write his narrative anonymously. The faulty and variable orthography of the roteiro also renders improbable the hypothesis that Vasco da Gama was the author.

The journal of the first voyage of Columbus contains many allusions to the birds which were seen in the course of it by the great discoverer. In this respect the roteiro of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama resembles it. The journal of Columbus is the earliest record of an important voyage of discovery which recognises natural history as an aid to navigators, the roteiro is the next.

The author of the roteiro notes that birds resembling large herons were seen in the month of August, 1497, at which time, I opine, the vessels of Da Gama were not far from the Gulf of Guinea, or were, perhaps, making their way across that gulf. [p8] On the 27th of October, as the vessels approached the south-west coast of Africa, whales and seals were encountered, and also ‘quoquas.’

‘Quoquas’ is the first example of the eccentric orthography of our author. ‘Quoquas’ is, no doubt, his manner of writing ‘conchas,’ that is to say ‘shells’; the til over the o is absent; perhaps that is a typographical error; probably the author wrote or intended to write quõquas. These shells may have been those of nautili.

On the 8th of November the vessels under the command of Vasco da Gama cast anchor in a wide bay which extended from east to west, and which was sheltered from all winds excepting that which blew from the north-west. It was subsequently estimated that this anchorage was sixty leagues distant from the Angra de Sam Bràs; and as the Angra de Sam Bràs was estimated to be sixty leagues distant from the Cape of Good Hope, the sheltered anchorage must have been in proximity to the Cape.

The voyagers named it the Angra de Santa Elena, and it may have been the bay which is now known as St. Helen’s Bay. But it is worthy of note that the G. de Sta. Ellena of the Cantino Chart is laid down in a position which corresponds rather with that of Table Bay than with that of St. Helen’s Bay.

The Portuguese came into contact with the inhabitants of the country adjacent to the anchorage. These people had tawny complexions, and carried wooden spears tipped with horn—assagais of a kind—and bows and arrows. They also used foxes’ tails attached to short wooden handles. We are not informed for what purposes the foxes’ tails were used. Were they used to brush flies away, or were they insignia of authority? The food of the natives was the flesh of whales, seals, and [p9] antelopes (gazellas), and the roots of certain plants. Crayfish or ‘Cape lobsters’ abounded near the anchorage.

The author of the roteiro affirms that the birds of the country resembled the birds in Portugal, and that amongst them were cormorants, larks, turtle-doves, and gulls. The gulls are called ‘guayvotas,’ but ‘guayvotas’ is probably another instance of the eccentric orthography of the author and equivalent to ‘gaivotas.’

In December the squadron reached the Angra de São Bràs, which was either Mossel Bay or another bay in close proximity to Mossel Bay. Here penguins and seals were in great abundance. The author of the roteiro calls the penguins ‘sotelycairos,’ which is more correctly written ‘sotilicarios’ by subsequent writers. The word is probably related to the Spanish sotil and the Latin subtilis, and may contain an allusion to the supposed cunning of the penguins, which disappear by diving when an enemy approaches.

The sotilicarios, says the chronicler, could not fly because there were no quill-feathers in their wings; in size they were as large as drakes, and their cry resembled the braying of an ass. Castanheda, Goes, and Osorio also mention the sotilicario in their accounts of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama, and compare its flipper to the wing of a bat—a not wholly inept comparison, for the under-surface of the wings of penguins is wholly devoid of feathery covering. Manuel de Mesquita Perestrello, who visited the south coast of Africa in 1575, also describes the Cape penguin. From a manuscript of his Roteiro in the Oporto Library, one learns that the flippers of the sotilicario were covered with minute feathers, as indeed they are on the upper surface and that they dived after fish, upon which they fed, and on which they fed their young, which were hatched in nests [p10] constructed of fishbones.1 There is nothing to cavil at in these statements, unless it be that which asserts that the nests were constructed of fishbones, for this is not in accordance with the observations of contemporary naturalists, who tell us that the nests of the Cape Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) are constructed of stones, shells, and débris.2 It is, therefore, probable that the fishbones which Perestrello saw were the remains of repasts of seals.

Seals, says the roteiro, were in great number at the Angra de São Bràs. On one occasion the number was counted and was found to be three thousand. Some were as large as bears and their roaring was as the roaring of lions. Others, which were very small, bleated like kids. These differences in size and in voice may be explained by differences in the age and in the sex of the seals, for seals of different species do not usually resort to the same locality. The seal which formerly frequented the south coast of Africa—for it is, I believe, no longer a denizen of that region—was that which is known to naturalists as Arctocephalus delalandii, and, as adult males sometimes attain eight and a half feet in length, it may well be described as of the size of a bear. Cubs from six to eight months of age measure about two feet and a half in length.3 The Portuguese caught anchovies in the bay, which they salted to serve as provisions on the voyage. They anchored a second time in the Angra de São Bràs in March, 1499, on their homeward voyage.

Yet one more allusion to the penguins and seals of the Angra [p11] de São Bràs is of sufficient historical interest to be mentioned. The first Dutch expedition to Bantam weighed anchor on the 2nd of April, 1595, and on the 4th of August of the same year the vessels anchored in a harbour called ‘Ague Sambras,’ in eight or nine fathoms of water, on a sandy bottom. So many of the sailors were sick with scurvy—‘thirty or thirty-three,’ says the narrator, ‘in one ship’—that it was necessary to find fresh fruit for them. ‘In this bay,’ runs the English translation of the narrative, ‘lieth a small Island wherein are many birds called Pyncuins and sea Wolves, that are taken with men’s hands.’ In the original Dutch narrative by Willem Lodewyckszoon, published in Amsterdam in 1597, the name of the birds appears as ‘Pinguijns.’


1 Roteiro da Viagem de Vasco da Gama. 2da edição. Lisboa, 1861. Pp. 14 and 105.

2 Moseley, Notes by a Naturalist on the ‘Challenger,’ p. 155.

3 Catalogue of Seals and Whales in the British Museum, by J. E. Gray. 2nd ed., p. 53.

[p13]
THE BANDA ISLANDS AND THE BANDAN BIRDS

The islands of the Banda Sea, with the exception of Letti, Kisser, and Wetter, constitute the Ceram sub-group or the Moluccan group; the principal units are Buru, Amboyna, Great Banda, Ceram, Ceram Laut, Goram, Kur, Babar, and Dama. The Matabela Islands, the Tiandu Islands, the Ké Islands, and the Tenimber Islands also belong to the Ceram sub-group. We are only concerned with the Banda Islands, which are eight in number, and consist of four central islands in close proximity to one another, inclosing a little inland sea, and four outlying islets. The central islands are Lonthoir, or Great Banda, Banda Neira, Gounong Api, which is an active volcano, and Pisang. The remaining Banda Islands are Rozengain, which lies about ten miles distant to the south-east of Great Banda; Wai, at an equal distance to the west; Rhun, about eight miles west by south from Wai; and Suangi or Manukan, about seventeen miles north by east from Rhun.

The Banda Islands are well known as the principal centre of the cultivation of the nutmeg. When the Dutch East India Company became the possessors of the islands in the beginning of the seventeenth century, they destroyed the nutmeg trees in all the islands under their jurisdiction, with the exception of those in Amboyna and the Banda Islands. By doing so they hoped to maintain the high value of these natural products.

The Banda Islands may have been visited by Varthema, [p16] but our first reliable account of them connects the discovery of them with an expedition dispatched by order of Alfonso de Albuquerque from Malacca. Shortly after Albuquerque had defeated the Malays and taken possession of that city, he sent three vessels, under the command of Antonio de Abreu, to explore the Archipelago and to inaugurate a trade with the islanders. A junk, commanded by a native merchant captain, Ismael by name, preceded the other vessels for the purpose of announcing their approaching advent to the traders of the Archipelago, so that they might have their spices ready for shipment. With De Abreu went Francisco Serrão and Simão Affonso, in command of two of the vessels. The pilots were Luis Botim, Gonçalo de Oliveira, and Francisco Rodriguez or Roiz. Abreu left Malacca in November, 1511, at which season the westerly monsoon begins to blow. He steered a south-easterly course, passed through the Strait of Sabong, and having arrived at the coast of Java, he cast anchor at Agaçai, which Valentijn identifies with Gresik, near Sourabaya. At Agaçai, Javan pilots were engaged for the voyage thence to the Banda Islands. Banda was, however, not the first port of call. The course was first to Buru, and thence to Amboyna. Galvão relates that Abreu landed at Guli Guli, which is in Ceram. Barros, however, in his account of the voyage, makes no mention of Ceram. At Amboyna the ship commanded by Francisco Serrão, an Indian vessel which had been captured at Goa, was burnt, for, says Barros, ‘she was old,’ and the ship’s company was divided between the two other ships, which then proceeded to Lutatão, which is perhaps identical with Ortattan, a trading station on the north coast of Great Banda. Here Abreu obtained a cargo of nutmegs and mace and of cloves, which had been brought hither from the Moluccas. At Lutatão Abreu erected a pillar in token of annexation to the [p17] dominions of the King of Portugal. He had done this at Agaçai and in Amboyna also.

The return voyage to Malacca was marked by disaster. A junk, which now was bought to replace the Indian vessel, was wrecked, and the crew, who had taken refuge on a small island, was attacked by pirates. The pirates, however, were worsted and their craft was captured. Serrão, who had been in command of the junk, sailed in the pirate vessel to Amboyna, and thence eventually reached Ternate, where he remained at the invitation of Boleife, the Sultan of that island. The junk, of which Ismael was the skipper, was also wrecked near Tuban, but the cargo, consisting of cloves, was recovered in 1513 from the Javans, who had taken possession of it.

Zoologically the Banda Islands lie within Wallace’s Australian Region, and their avifauna has a great affinity with that of Australia. Wallace visited these islands in December 1857, May 1859, and April 1861, and collected eight species of birds, namely, Rhipidura squamata, a fan-tailed Flycatcher; Pachycephala phæonota, a thickhead; Myzomela boiei, a small scarlet-headed honey-eater; Zosterops chloris, a white-eye; Pitta vigorsi, one of the brightly-coloured ground thrushes of the Malayan region; Halcyon chloris, a kingfisher with a somewhat extensive range; Ptilopus xanthogaster, a fruit-eating pigeon, and the nutmeg pigeon, Carpophaga concinna. The islands were visited by the members of the Challenger expedition in September and October, 1874, but the only additional species then obtained was Monarcha cinerascens, also a Flycatcher.

These birds may be regarded as the resident birds of the Banda Islands, but there are others which are occasional visitants or migrants. Indeed, in seas so full of islands, it is inevitable that wanderers from other islands should occasionally visit the group.

[p18]
To those which I have already mentioned there may therefore be added, as of less frequency, the accipitrine bird, Astur polionotus, the Hoary-backed Goshawk; the Passeres Edoliisoma dispar, a Caterpillar Shrike, the skin of a male of which from Great Banda is in the Leyden Museum, and Motacilla melanope, the Grey Wagtail. Of picarian birds there have been found Cuculus intermedius, the Oriental Cuckoo; Eudynamis cyanocephala sub-species everetti, a small form of the Koel, and Eurystomus australis, the Australian Roller. João de Barros, in his Asia, mentions the parrots of the Banda Islands,1 and we find accordingly that one of the Psittaci is recorded from Banda in modern times, namely, Eos rubra, a red, or rather a crimson lory. The ornithologist Müller saw many of these birds in Great Banda, on the Kanary trees. Additional pigeons are the seed-eating Chalcophaps chrysochlora and the fruit-eating Ptilonopus wallacei, and finally there is one gallinaceous bird which is probably resident, but the shy and retiring habits of which have enabled it to escape observation until recently. This is a Scrub Fowl (Megapodius duperreyi).


1 III. v. 6. ‘Muitos papagayos & passaros diversos.’

[p19]
THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAME ‘EMU’

The name ‘emu’ has an interesting history. It occurs in the forms ‘emia’ and ‘eme’ in Purchas his Pilgrimage, in 1613. ‘In Banda and other islands,’ says Purchas, ‘the bird called emia or eme is admirable.’ We should probably pronounce ‘eme’ in two syllables, as e-mé. This eme or emia was doubtless a cassowary—probably that of Ceram. The idea that it was a native of the Banda Group appears to have existed in some quarters at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but the idea was assuredly an erroneous one. So large a struthious bird as the cassowary requires more extensive feeding-grounds and greater seclusion than was to be found in any island of the Banda Group, and, as at the present day so in the past, Ceram was the true home of the Malayan cassowary, which found and which finds in the extensive forests of that island the home adapted to its requirements. It is, however, equally certain that at an early date the Ceram cassowary was imported into Amboyna and probably into Banda also, and we know of an early instance of its being introduced into Java, and from Java into Europe. When the first Dutch expedition to Java had reached that island, and when the vessels of which it was composed were lying at anchor off Sindaya, some Javans brought a cassowary on board Schellenger’s ship as a gift, saying that the bird was a rare one and that it swallowed fire. At least, so they were understood to say, but that they really did say so is somewhat doubtful. [p22] However, the sailors put the matter to the test by administering to the bird a dose of hollands; perhaps the hollands was ignited and administered in the form of liquid fire, but it is not expressly stated that this was the case. This cassowary was brought alive to Amsterdam in 1597, and was presented to the Estates of Holland at the Hague.1 A figure of it, under the name ‘eme,’ appears in the fourth and fifth German editions of the account of this voyage of the Dutch to Java, by Hulsius, published at Frankfort in 1606 and 1625. The figure is a fairly accurate representation of an immature cassowary.

Whence comes, let us ask, the name ‘eme’ and the later form, ‘emu.’ The New Historical English Dictionary suggests a derivation from a Portuguese word, ‘ema,’ signifying a crane. But no authority is quoted to prove that ema signifies, or ever signified, crane. On the other hand, various Portuguese dictionaries which have been consulted render ‘ema’ by ‘casoar,’ or state that the name ‘ema’ is applicable to several birds, of which the crane is not one. Pero de Magalhães de Gandavo, in his Historia da Provincia Sancta Cruz, published in 1576, uses the name ‘hema’ in writing of the rhea or nandu.

It is worthy of note that the Arabic name of the cassowary is ‘neâma’, and that there were many Arab traders in the Malayan Archipelago at the time when the Portuguese first navigated it. The Portuguese strangely distorted Malay and Arabic names, and it would not be surprising if they reproduced ‘neâma’ as ‘uma ema.’


1 Salvadori, referring to Hist. Gen. de Voy. VIII. p. 112, states that the Cassowary which was brought alive to Europe by the Dutch in 1597 belonged first to Count Solms van Gravenhage, then to the Elector Ernest van Keulen, and finally to the Emperor Rudolph II. Ornit. della Papuasia e delle Molucche. III. p. 481.

[p22a]

The Eme

[p23]
AUSTRALIAN BIRDS IN 1697

In 1696 the Honourable Directors of the Dutch Chartered Company trading to the Dutch East Indies decided to send an expedition for the purpose of searching for missing vessels, especially for the Ridderschap van Hollandt, of which no news had been received for two years. The local Board of Directors of the Amsterdam Chamber of the Company was charged to carry out this resolution, and it equipped three vessels which were placed under the command of Willem de Vlaming. The Commander was directed to search for missing vessels or for shipwrecked sailors at the Tristan da Cunha Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul in the Southern Ocean. Thence he was to proceed to the ‘Onbekende Zuidland,’ by which name, or by that of Eendragts Land, Australia was designated in whole or in part in the official dispatches of the Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth century.

On the 29th of December, 1696, the vessels under the command of De Vlaming lay at anchor between Rottnest Island and the mainland of Australia. The island was searched for wreckage with little result. One piece of timber was found which, it was conjectured, might have been deck timber, and a plank was found, three feet long and one span broad. The nails in the wreckage were very rusty. The search for shipwrecked sailors on the adjacent mainland was unsuccessful. On the 20th and on the 31st of December, and on the 1st of January, 1697, [p26] De Vlaming notes in his journal that odoriferous wood was found on the mainland. Portions of it were subsequently submitted to the Council of the Dutch East Indies at Batavia, and from these portions an essential oil was obtained by distillation. It may well be supposed that this experiment was the first in the manufacture of eucalyptus oil, which, however, in our day is obtained not from the wood but from the leaves of the tree. On the 13th of January De Vlaming records that a dark resinous gum resembling lac was seen exuding from trees.

In a narrative of the voyage published under the title Journaal wegens een Voyagie na het onbekende Zuid-land, we read that on the 11th of January nine or ten Black Swans were seen. In a letter from Willem van Oudhoorn, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, to the Managers of the East India Company at the Amsterdam Chamber, it is stated that three black swans were brought alive to Batavia, but died soon after their arrival.1

Several boat expeditions were made, and Swan River was entered and ascended. During these expeditions the author of the Journaal mentions that the song of the ‘Nachtegael’ was heard. There are no nightingales in Australia, but the bird to which the writer of the Journaal alludes may have been the Long-billed Reed Warbler, the Australian representative of the Sedge Warbler and a denizen of the reed-beds of the Swan River. Two species of geese are also mentioned by the same writer under the names of European geese. It is somewhat difficult to determine to which geese the author of the Journaal alludes under the names ‘Kropgans’ and ‘Rotgans.’

When English-speaking Dutch are asked to translate ‘kropgans,’ they do so by ‘Christmas goose’ or ‘fat goose.’ [p27] Dictionaries are silent respecting ‘kropgans,’ or render it by ‘pelican.’ I am inclined to think that this rendering arises from a confusion between ‘kropgans’ and the German word ‘kropfgans,’ and that ‘kropgans’ was formerly applied to domestic geese in general which were being fed for the market, and also, as in the present instance, to the wild goose from which they were derived, namely to the Grey Lag Goose (Anser ferus). If this be so, the Australian bird with which the kropgans is compared in the Journaal may be the Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novæ-hollandiæ), which is found sparingly in Western Australia. The ‘Rotgans’ is the Brent Goose (Branta bernicla) and the Australian bird which most resembles it is the Musk Duck (Biziura lobata), which also is found in the west of Australia, although more sparingly there than in the south of the island continent.

Other birds which were seen at the same part of the Australian coast were ‘Duikers,’ by which name Cormorants are probably designated, Cockatoos and Parrakeets. It is said that all the birds were shy and flew away at the approach of human beings. No aborigines were seen, although smoke was visible.

On the 15th of January De Vlaming quitted the anchorage near Rottnest Island, and followed the coast until 30° 17´ S. lat. was reached. Two boats were there sent to the shore and soundings were taken. The country near the landing-place was sandy and treeless, and neither human beings nor fresh water were to be seen. But footmarks resembling those of a dog were seen, and also a bird which the Journaal calls a ‘Kasuaris’ and which must have been one of the Emus.2

On the 30th of January, 26° 8´ S. lat. was observed, which is [p28] approximately that of False Entrance. On the 1st of February the pilot of the Geelvink left the ships in one of the Geelvink’s boats in order to ascertain the position of Dirk Hartog’s Anchorage, and the captains of two of the vessels made an excursion for a distance of six or seven miles inland. They returned to the ships on the following day, bringing with them the head of a large bird, and they imparted the information that they had seen two huge nests built of branches.3

The pilot of the Geelvink returned to the ship on the 3rd of February, and reported that he had passed through a channel—probably that which is now known as South Passage—and had followed the coast of Dirk Hartog’s Island until he reached the northern extremity of the island. There, upon an acclivity, a tin plate was found on the ground. Certain words scratched upon the metal indicated that the ship Eendragt, of Amsterdam, of which Dirk Hartog was master, had anchored off the island on the 25th of October, 1616, and had departed for Bantam on the 27th day of the same month. The pilot brought the metal plate—a flattened tin dish—with him, and also two turtles which had been caught on the island. The squadron anchored in Dirk Hartog’s Reede on the 4th of February, and remained there until the 12th day of that month.

The anonymous author of the Journaal relates that on the 6th of February many turtles were seen, and also a very large nest at the corner of a rock; the nest resembled that of a stork, but was probably that of an osprey, which places its nest on a rock—often on a rock surrounded by water.

De Vlaming quitted the Australian coast at 21° S. lat., and proceeded to Batavia, where he arrived on the 20th of March, 1697.


1 Heeres, The Part borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia, p. 84.

2 No Cassowary is known to inhabit western Australia.

3 Wedge-tailed Eagles and also Ospreys build nests of sticks.

[p29]
NEW ZEALAND BIRDS IN 1772.

Nicholas Thomas Marion Dufresne was an officer in the French navy, and was born at St. Malo in 1729. In 1771 he was commissioned at his own desire to restore to the island of his birth a Tahitian who had accompanied Bougainville to France. He was also charged to ascertain if a continent or islands existed in the Southern Ocean whence useful products might be exported to Mauritius or Reunion.

The middle of the eighteenth century is approximately the period in which the collection and classification of exotic plants and animals became one of the chief objects of exploratory voyages. This was also one of the aims of the expedition under the command of Marion and Commerson, a botanist who had accompanied De Bougainville, was to have accompanied Marion also. But he was unable to go, so that no botanist and also no zoologist made the voyage. Crozet, however, who was second in command of the Mascarin, has left not a few observations relating to the birds which he saw at sea during the voyage, or in the countries which he visited. They are embodied in his book Nouveau Voyage à la Mer du Sud.

The native of Tahiti fell sick shortly after the commencement of the voyage, and was put ashore in Madagascar, where he died. One of the objects of the voyage thus ceased to exist. The first undiscovered land which was sighted after leaving Madagascar was named Terre d’Espérance, and subsequently, by Cook, Prince [p32] Edward Island. Near it a collision with the Mascarin caused the partial disablement of the Marquis de Castries; the search for a southern continent was therefore abandoned, and it was resolved to visit the countries which had been discovered by Tasman in the seventeenth century.

Crozet’s first observation relating to sea-birds was made on the 8th of January, 1772, about twelve days after leaving the Cape of Good Hope. Terns were then in view, and thereafter, until the 13th of that month, Terns and Gulls were frequently seen. Shortly after the latter date Du Clesmeur, who was in command of the Marquis de Castries, sighted another island which was named Ile de la Prise de Possession, and which has been renamed Marion Island. Crozet landed upon it, and relates that the sea-birds which were nesting upon it continued to sit on their eggs or to feed their young regardless of his presence. There were amongst the birds penguins, Cape petrels (‘damiers’), and cormorants. Crozet also mentions divers—‘plongeons.’ It is doubtful to what birds he alludes under this name—a name which is usually applied to the Colymbidæ, a family which has no representative in the seas of the southern hemisphere.

The terns which Crozet saw were probably of the species Sterna vittata, which breeds on the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. It also frequents the Tristan da Cunha Group, and Gough Island and Kerguelen Island, so that it enjoys a wide distribution in the Southern Ocean. The gulls may have been Dominican Gulls (Larus dominicanus), which are to be found at a considerable distance from any continental land. The penguins which frequent the seas adjacent to the islands which Marion named Ile de la Caverne, Iles Froides, and Ile Aride are Aptenodytes patagonica, Pygoscelis papua, Catarrhactes chrysocome, and Catarrhactes chrysolophus. The eggs of the last-named penguin have [p33] been found on the Ile Aride, which is now known as Crozet Island, and the whole group as the Crozet Islands. The Cape Petrel (Daption capensis) nests on Tristan da Cunha and Kerguelen Island. A Cormorant (Phalacrocorax verrucosus) inhabits Kerguelen Island, but its occurrence on the Crozet Islands is doubtful. Finally, Crozet saw on the island on which he landed a white bird, which he mistook for a white pigeon, and argues that a country producing seeds for the nurture of pigeons must exist in the vicinity. This bird was probably the Sheath-bill (Chionarchus crozettensis) of the Crozet Islands.

The next land visited was Tasmania, where the vessels cast anchor on the east side of the island. Like their Dutch predecessors, the French mariners bestowed the names of European birds upon the birds which they saw in these new lands, and it would be an idle task to seek the equivalents of the ousels, thrushes, and turtle-doves which Crozet saw in Tasmania. There can be no doubt, however, about his pelicans, for Pelecanus conspicillatus still nests on the east coast of the island or on islets adjacent to the coast.

The duration of Crozet’s sojourn in New Zealand was about four months in the autumn and winter of 1772. The vessels anchored in the Bay of Islands. Crozet has given a long enumeration of the birds which he saw in New Zealand. We will not seek to find what his wheatears and wagtails, starlings and larks, ousels and thrushes may have been, but we may make an exception in favour of his black thrushes with white tufts (‘grives noires à huppes blanches’). These birds were evidently Tuis (Prosthemadura Novæ-Zealandiæ).

Crozet distributes the birds which he saw in New Zealand under four heads, as birds of the forest, of the lakes, of the open country, and of the sea-coast. In the forests were Wood Pigeons [p34] as large as fowls, and bright blue in colour; no doubt the one pigeon of New Zealand (Hemiphaga Novæ-Zealandiæ) is alluded to in this description. Two parrots are mentioned, one of which was very large and black or dusky in colour diversified with red and blue, and the other was a small lory, which resembled the lories in the island of Gola.1 It was no doubt a Cyanorhamphus—a genus of which there are in New Zealand more than one species. The large parrot may be the Kaka, although there is no blue in the plumage of the Kaka (Nestor meridionalis). There is blue under the wing of the Kea, but the Kea (Nestor notabilis) is not a bird of the North, but of the South Island.

In the open country were the passerine birds, which Crozet mentions by the names of European birds, and also a quail (Coturnix Novæ-Zealandiæ) which has lately become extinct.

On the lakes were ducks and teals in abundance, and a ‘poule bleue,’ similar to the ‘poules bleues’ of Madagascar, India, and China. The ‘poule bleue’ was doubtless the Swamp Hen or Purple Gallinule which, because of its rich purple plumage and red feet, is a conspicuous object in New Zealand landscapes. The species which inhabits New Zealand, Tasmania, and Eastern Australia is Porphyrio melanotus.

[p34a]

Blue-Faced Gannet

On the sea-coast were cormorants, curlews, and black-and-white egrets. The curlews, which pass the summer in New Zealand and the remainder of the year in islands of the Pacific Ocean, are of the species Numenius cyanopus. They leave New Zealand in autumn, with the exception of a few individuals which remain in favoured localities. The ‘aigrettes blanches et noires’ were perhaps reef herons; the black bird of the form of an oyster-catcher, and possessing a red bill and red feet, was doubtless the Sooty Oyster-catcher (Hæmatopus unicolor), which [p35] in Tasmania is known as the Redbill. Terns and gannets were amongst the birds of the coastal waters. Of New Zealand terns, Sterna frontalis and S. nereis are the species which are seen most frequently. The ‘goelette blanche’ may have been Gygis candida. The gannets may have been ‘manches de velours’—the name by which French mariners knew the Masked Gannet (Sula cyanops). The body of this gannet is white; the wings are rich chocolate brown. It is a bird of the tropical and sub-tropical seas of the world and its appearance in New Zealand waters is infrequent.

From New Zealand the two vessels, now under the command of Duclesmeur, sailed for Guam and thence to the Philippine Islands, but as Crozet’s observations on the birds which he saw after he quitted New Zealand are of little importance, we will follow him no further.


1 I am unable to identify the lories of Gola Island.

London: Printed by Strangeways & Sons, Tower Street Cambridge Circus, W.C.

Transcriber’s Notes:

In the fourth essay, the reference to Purchas bis Pilgrimage has been corrected to Purchas his Pilgrimage.

Inconsistent hyphenation (Zuidland/Zuid-land) has been retained.







End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Essays on early ornithology and
kindred subjects, by James R. McClymont

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS ON EARLY ORNITHOLOGY ***

***** This file should be named 24506-h.htm or 24506-h.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/5/0/24506/

Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)


Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.



*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.net/license).


Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works

1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.  See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.

1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.

1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.

1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that

- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
     License.  You must require such a user to return or
     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
     Project Gutenberg-tm works.

- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
     of receipt of the work.

- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.

1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.


Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.


Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org

For additional contact information:
     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
     Chief Executive and Director
     gbnewby@pglaf.org


Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate


Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.

Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.


Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.


Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:

     http://www.gutenberg.net

This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.