An account of several late voyages & discoveries to the south and north towards the Streights of Magellan, the South Seas, the vast tracts of land beyond Hollandia Nova &c. : also towards Nova Zembla, Greenland or Spitsberg, Groynland or Engrondland, &c. / by Sir John Narborough, Captain Jasmen Tasman, Captain John Wood, and Frederick Marten of Hamburgh ; to which are annexed a large introduction and supplement, giving an account of other navigations to those regions of the globe, the whole illustrated with charts and figures.

CHAP. II.

Of the Broad or Web-footed Birds.

THere are several sorts of these about Spitzbergen. Some of them have thin pointed Bills, others have thick and broad ones.

Some of the thick billed one have them di∣vided or parted as the Malle-mucken (mad Gnats in English) others have undivided ones, as the Parret so called.

There is also a considerable difference in the Heels of these Birds, for some of them have Heels, as the Mountain-duck, Kirmeu and Malle-mucks: Others have them not at all, as the Burgermeister, Rathsher, Strundjager, Kutyegehf, Par∣ret, Lumbe, Pigeon, and the Red Goose; no Wa∣ter sticks to their Feathers no more than on the Swans and other Water Fowl, for it runs off from them, as if they were oiled all over.

Some are Birds of Prey, others not. There is also a difference in their flying.

Some flie like unto a Partridge, as that called the Pigeon, others like Swallows, as the Lumbs and Red Geese, others like the Mews, as the Mallemucke, Rathsher and Strundjager, others like the Stork, as the Burgermeister.

The Birds of Prey are, the Burgermeister, Rathsher, Strundjager, Kutyegehf and Mallemucke. There is also a great difference in their Flesh; the Birds of Prey are not so good to eat as the others, except you hang them up by their Legs for some days, that the Train Oil may run out of them, and the Air blow through them,

and then you do not taste the Train Oil so strong, for else it would make you vomit.

The Pigeons, Parrets, Red Geese and Ducks, are the most fleshy, the old Lumbs have a very tough and dry Flesh, not to disparage the Rotges, Kirmews and young Lumbs when boiled, and the Fat taken away from them, and afterwards fryed in Butter; for then one may make a shift to eat them;but if you should eat their Fat, it would vomit and disorder the Stomach very much. Thse Birds except the Strundjager, Kirmew and Mountain-duck, all make their Nests upon the high Rocks, where they are secured from the Foxes and Bears;but some of them make their Nests higher than others.

They fit in so great-numbers or flocks upon the Rocks, chiefly at the time when they hatch their Young ones, which is about the latter end of June, and beginning of July, that if they flie up when the Sun shineth, they shade the Ground like a Cloud, and make so great a noise, that one Man can hardly hear the other.

The Kirmews and Mountain-ducks, and also the Strundjagers. make their Nests on low Grouands, (that one would think that the high Water must needs run over them) on the small Islnds, where they are secure from the Foxes, but not from the white Bears, for they swim in the Water from one Islands to the other. We took up great store of their Eggs.

The Nests of these Birds are not all made after the same manner. For the Mountains-duck makes its Nest of the Feathers of its own Belly, mixing them with Moss.

The Feathers of these Nests are not the Edder Down, brought us from Island, for that cometh from great Birds (that the Inhabi∣tants)

of a Lark;but when the sun shines upon it, it shews blewish, very like those two Colours observed on our Ducks Necks when the Sun shines upon them. They feed upon the little gray Worms and Shrimps.

We shot some of them in the South Harbour, near the Cookery of Harlem they had not the taste of Fish at all. See Tab. K at a.

II. Of the Snow-bird.

The Snow-bird is no bigger than a sparrow, and like a Linnet in his Shape, Bill and Co∣lour.

The Bill is short and pointed, its Head of the same thickness with its Neck. The Legs are also like the Linnets, their Feet are divided into three fore Claws, with longish crooked Nails, the hinder Claw is somewhat shorter, but hath a long bended Spur, or Nail. The Legs are grayish, and not very long.

From their Head over all their Belly to the Tail they are white like Snow, but all over their Backs and Wings they are gray. Some of them are gray all over, but these are little Ones.

I can tell nothing of its singing, only that it whisseleth a little, as Birds use to do when they are hungry.

When we sailed near the Ice, they came in great flocks to us in our Ship, near the Island of John Mayen, and were so tame, that you could take them up with your Hands.

They run upon the Ice where I only saw them, and not upon the Land, which is the reason that they are called Snow-birds.

They kept with our Ship till we catch'd the first Whale, and after that the other Birds fright∣ned them away.

We fed them with Oatmeal, but when their Bellies were full, they would not suffer them∣selves to be taken up. We put some of them in a Cage, and hung them up in the Cabin, but they did not live long.

We eat some of them, and they were not of an unpleasant taste, but very lean. If I may give my Opinion, why the Birds flie to the Ships, I believe that they are stray'd from the Island, and that so the Hunger compels them to the Ships for Food. Tab. K. at b.

III. Of the Ice-birds.

I saw also in the English Haven, a very beau∣tiful Ice-bird, which was so tame, that we might have taken him up almost with our Hands, but we would not go too near him with our Gun, for fear that we should shoot him all in pieces, and so spoil his curious Feathers, so we mis∣sed him, and he flew away.

The Sun shined at that time upon him, which made him look like Gold, so as it dazled our Eyes almost. He was as big as a small Pigeon.

I would willingly have delineated him, if we could have catched him. I saw but this one of the Kind.

[illustration]

II. Of the Pigeon.

The Pigeon, or rather the Pigeon-diver, is al∣so one of the beautifullest Birds of Spitzbergen. It is of the bigness of a Duck, the Bill is some∣what long, thin and sharp pointed, at the point the upper Bill is somewhat crooked, a∣bout two Inches long and hollow within. It hath but three red Toes on its Feet, with crooked Claws; it hath short redish Legs, and a short Tail.

Some of these Birds are black all their body over; but others. and so was that which I de∣lineated; about their Wings, and in the middle they are white pyed with black, but under∣neath the Wings they are quite white; others are in the middle of their Wings quite white; their Bill is red within; the Tongue is also red and hollow; they cry like young Pigeons, whence they have their Name, for they are in nothing else like them. In their Crops I found Shrimps, or Prawns, and small Sand-stones.

They do not flie high over the Sea, and their flight is very like the Partridges: They do not flie many together as the Lumbs, but usually by pares, and sometimes one alone by its self.

They can keep a great while under Water; wherefore they may be called Diving Pigeons.

But chiefly when they are pursed by Men, or if their Wings be hurt by a Shot, they will dive and keep a great while under Water; and some∣times they get underneath the Ice, and there they are suffocated, they were as nimble and quick under Water (if their Wings or Feet are not quite shot off) as we could row with our Boat. Their

Flesh is good to eat when the Fat is taken a∣way from it, if afterwards it be fryed in But∣ter.

The first Diving Pigeon I got the 23th. of May on the Ice, and afterward at Spitzbergen, where they are seen more frequently. See Tab. L. at b.

III. Of the Lumb.

This Bird is the likest in his Bill unto the Diving Pigeon, only it is somewhat stronger and crookeder.

He hath black Feet, with three black Toes, and as many black Nails; his Legs are black also and short.

He is quite black at the top, but underneath his Belly even to the Neck he is snow white; his Tail is short.

His Cry is very unpleasant, most like that of a Raven, and they cry more than all the o∣ther Birds, except the Rotger-divers, he is big∣ger than the Diving Pigeon, as big as a mid∣ling Duck. In their Crops I find small Fish and Prawns, and also some Sand-stones; and one of them flying over our Ship dropp'd a large red Prawn into the Ship. I also delinea∣ted it in the mentioned place. They say likewise, that small fresh River Fish are their Prey; but this I cannot relate for certain.

When they have young ones, they common∣ly sit by the old ones one or two on the Water, who teach them to dive and swim. After the old ones have brought their young in their Bill, from the Rocks to the Water, the Prey∣ing Bird called Burgermeister sometimes catches the young ones, when the old ones are not

present, and sometimes when they are also, for they are not able to resist them.

They love their young ones so well, that they will be killed before they will leave them, (and will defend them as a Hen doth her Chickens, swimming about them) at other times they are very hard to be shot; for as soon as they see the Fire, they are immediately under Water, or fly away. They fly in great flocks, with pointed Wings like Swallows, and move their Wings much in their flight. One can hardly know the young Lumbs from the old ones, at the first sight, if you do not take exact notice of their Bills; for the upper part turns beside the under part, at the point, and the undermost beside the uppermost, as you see in the Cross Bill, yet not so much in these; and it is commonly done in the 15th, 16th, to the 20th year of their Age. The old ones are full of Flesh, but it is very dry and tough, and therefore unpleasant to eat.

They boil them like the Pigeons, and scum off the Fat when they boil, then they fry them in Batter. I did not see them upon the Ice, but abundance of them upon the Mountains: They go waddling from one side to the other, like the diving Pigeons. I have seen many Thousands of them together in the Danish Har∣bour, on the Mountains, on that side where the East and Northern Winds could not blow hard or not fully upon them, (and so do all other Birds chuse such places on the Mountains for their Habitations) where the Herbs do grow.

But I saw not so many by the Haven of Mag∣dalen, where I drew my Figure on the 25th of July. Afterwards I saw some of them in the

Spanish and North Sea, not far from the Heilg∣land. See Tab. M at a.

IV. Of the Mew called Kutge-gehef.

This is beautiful Mew, and is called Kutge-gehef, because it cryeth so: He hath a Bill somewhat bent, as the Burgermeister; on the undermost part of its Bill is a small knob or rising: About his black Eyes he hath a red circle, as the Burgermeister; and he hath but three Claws, joyned together with a black Skin.

The Legs are also black, and but short; the Tail is somewhat long and broad, like a Fan.

All the Belly is as white as Snow; the Wings and Back are grey, and the point of the Wings black. He is almost as big as an ordi∣nary Mew, but something less than the Strunt-jager. When we cut the fat off from the Whales, we saw abundance of them fly by the Ship, and heard them cry.

When the Seamen have a mind to catch some of them, they bait their Hooks with a piece of Whales Fat, and so tye the Hooks to a Line, and fling it into the Sea, and so they catch not only these, but all the other Birds of Prey. He flieth with small Wings as a com∣mon Mew, and dives not. His Food is the Fat of the Whale. He is hunted by sthe Strunt-jager (in English Dung-hunter) who leave him not till he dungs, which the Strunt-jager eats.

This I could hardly believe at first, until af∣terwards I saw it my self very often: that which I drew was catched by our Ship-boys

[illustration]

with a Hook, in the South Haven. I did pecu∣liarly observe in this Bird, that it used to swim upon the Water, and hold its Head up against the Wind, if it was never so great a Storm; and so we found whole flocks of them swim upon the Water together.

This is not only to be understood of this Bird, but also of all the rest, for they look against the Wind, that their Feathers may not be blown asunder and opened; for if they should sit or swim with the Wind, their Fea∣thers would be blown asunder by the cold Wind, and so the Cold would get in between them to their Skin, which perhaps might pre∣judice their Health, for Birds are covered with their Feathers as Men are with their Clothes.

And so, when they fly up, they press against the Wind with their Bodies, and expand their Wings, and so fly away very swiftly; also their Feathers would be entangled, so that they could not have a sure and steddy flight, but faulter in their flying, like Birds that learn to fly. There is but little Meat upon them; we eat but the Legs and the Breast, for the Wings are nothing but Skin and Bone. We have a Proverb, and say, Thou art as light as a Mew: This we may very well say of these Mews. I have seen them since in the Spanish Sea, and also in the North Sea, but yet they differ from these; and so do the Beasts of all Countries. See Tab. N. it is marked with a.

V. Of the Burgermeister.

The Burgermeister (in English Major) is the biggest of all the Birds of Spitsbergen, wherefore this Name is given him as being the Chief of them. His Bill is crooked, of a yel∣low colour, narrow and thick; his Under-bill is somewhat rising or knobby at the point or∣end, a great deal more than the Kutge-gebefs, which looketh very pretty, as if he had a Cher∣ry in his Mouth; he hath longish Nostrils, and a red Ring about his Eyes, as I mentioned when I spoke of the Kutge-gehef; he hath but three Claws, of a grey colour, his Legs are grey, and not quite so long as those of a Stork, yet he is almost equally big with him.

His Tail is broad, like a Fan, and white, which is chiefly to be understood of these Birds when they fly; his Wings are of a pale colour, and so is all the Back, but the Wings are white at the tip, and so is the whole Body. He Builds his Nest very high in the Clifts of the Rocks, where you can neither shoot nor catch them any other way; which was the reason I could not see their Nests. I have seen sometimes two, three and four of their young ones together; we shoot most of them when we draw a dead Whale behind our Ship, where they flock in great numbers, and bite off great pieces of the fat of the Whale; at other times we must shoot at them a great distance, as at other wild Birds, such as Ravens, Herns, and the like.

[illustration]

His Cry is like the Cry of some Ravens that I have sometimes heard; he flyeth in the Air like a Stork; he preys upon young Lumbs as the Hawk doth upon all sorts of Birds; he feeds also upon the fat of the Whale, whereof he doth swallow down peices as big as ones Hand whole.

The Mallemucks are mightily afraid of him, they will lye down before him (when they are upon the Carcass of a dead Whale) then he bites them about the Neck, which I believe doth not hurt them much, because they have a very thick Skin, for else they would oppose and re∣sist, him, or fly away, but they do not matter it, neither will they leave their Meal for his biting. I have seen him also about the Sea∣Horses, whose Dung he eats. He flyeth com∣monly single, except when they meet at their Prey. He loves to rest on the water, but doth not care much for diving; we shot one before the Weibegat, on the 10th day of July. You see him at c in the Tab. L.

VI. Of the Rotges.

This Bird is a Diver, and might be rather called the Diving Rotge. His Bill is crooked, but short, somewhat thick, of a black colour; his Feet have but three Claws, with as many black Nails, and are joyned by a black Skin; his Legs are short and black; he is almost all over black, except his Belly, which is white.

Some of this kind have their Wings spotted with white and black, like the diving Pigeon; no Water sticketh to their Feathers, no more than to a Swans; they are most of them like Hair on a very thick Skin: Their Tail is short.

They are very much like a Swallow in their shape; I took them at first to be Swallows, for they fly like them; they are in great flocks to∣gether, as the Swallows are when they are about to hide themselves against the Winter.

They go wabbling from side to side, as the Divers do; they cry very loud Rottet, tet, tet, tet, tet, at first high, and so by degrees lower and lower; and this their calling or crying is the occasion of their Name. They make more noise than any other Bird, because their Voice is shriller; but the Lumbs in this are not much inferior to them, although they cry lower; the Burgermeister, Rathsher, and the whole crew of Birds of Spitzbergen strike in with them, so that one can hardly hear another's words.

The calling or crying of the Rotages amongst one another sounds almost, at a distance, as if you hear a great many Women scolding toge∣ther: They are somewhat bigger than a Star∣ling.

They build their Nests in the Clifts of the Rocks, yet not all of them, for some make their Nests upon the Hills or Mountains, of Moss, where we found them, and we killed abun∣dance of their young ones with Sticks. They feed upon the grey Worms that are like Craw∣fish, which are delineated hereafter: They also eat the red Shrimps or Prawns. We got the first of them on the Ice on the 29th day of May, and afterwards more of them by Spitzbergen.

They are very good Food, and the best next the Strandrunner, are fleshy and fattish; we boyl and then roast them. In Tab. M they are mark'd with b.

VII. Of the Struntjager (or Dung-hunter.)

This Bird hath a Bill somewhat blunt be∣fore, and crooked, and is thick; if I remem∣ber, it is black.

He hath but three Claws, which are joyned together with a black Skin; his Legs are not very long; his Tayl, which is like unto a Fan, hath this mark, that one Feather thereof stands out before all the rest: He is black on the top of his Head: His Eyes are black; about his Neck he hath a dark yellowish Ring or Cricle; his Wings, as well as his Back, are brown; un∣derneatsh his Belly he is white; he is somewhat bigger than the Mew called Kutge-gehef; he hunts and flies in the Air after the Mew Kutge-gehef, so long torments her, until she avoideth her Dung, on which this Bird feeds, which he catches dexterously before it falls down into the Water; and this is the reason why they call him Strunt-jager, in English the Dung∣hunter.

He flyeth with the Mews called Kutge gehef, which do not fear him in the least, and they are both equally swift in their flying, but when he intends to make them dung, he hunts them and makes them cry out very loud, but he him∣self seldom cries: He generally keepeth but to one Mew, but if two or three of the Mews be togher, and one makes her escape from him, then he hunts the other two, and flyeth some∣times above and sometimes underneath them. I could never see him hunt after any other Birds, but once I saw him fly after a Mallemunck, but I saw him soon leave her, perhaps because her Dung did not please him. I am of opinion

that this Dung, because it is thin, serves him instead of Drink, for else he eats the Fat of the Whale for his Food: He builds his Nest not very high.

He goes upright upon his Legs, like the Bur∣gemeister, Rhatsher, or Kutge-gehef. It is a rare Bird, and I saw but very few of them: He flies commonly alone; I saw very seldom two or three of them together; he flies like the Rhat∣sher, or like a Crow, but his Wings are some∣what more pointed at the ends.

He hath a loud Voice, when he cries it sounds as if he did say, 1 Ja. To some it seem∣eth, if it be at a distance, as if he cried, Jo han. His Flesh is not better than that of the other Birds of Prey. I got him on the 11th of July near to the Dear-haven, or Dear-bay, in Spitzbur∣gen; afterwards I saw this Birds behind Scotland, hunt after the new Kutge-gehef. In the Tab. L it is marked with d.

VIII. Of the Diving Parret.

This is commonly called the Parret. Amongst all the web-footed Birds that have three Claws, this hath a peculiar Bill; and because it seem'd to those that gave him this Name to be like that of a Parret, therefore they called him also a Parret; but in truth his Bill is not at all like that of a Parret, its Bell is broad, and full of slender strokes of several colours, viz. red, white, and the broad part thereof is black; the uppermost as well as the undremost are both pointed; the uppermost arch is red, and his upper Bill hath a thin bended Hook; the undermost hath a yellowish arch, and is to∣wards the end downwards cut off somewhat

sloaping: The upper part of its Bill, as well as the lower part, is about three fingers broad, and about the same length, if you measure the upper and undremost together: He hath of the up∣per Bill four arched or bended oblong pitted holes, and on the lower he hath as many, al∣though the furthermost is not altogether so plain.

These holes or pits of the upper and lower Bill make together a Half-moon; and the parts that are elevated make in the same manner, as well as the pitted or hollow ones, a Half-moon.

By these holes are as many raised or eleva∣ted parts; the uppermost of them is as broad as the three furthermost ones together, and hath underneath on each side a longish hole, which without doubt are his Nostrils; but the undermost on the under Bill is about a Straws breadth broader; the upper broad part is blackish, and sometimes blew.

On this broad part of the upper Bill that is thus elevated above the rest, is towards the Eye a long whitish piece of Cartilage that is full of holes, whereon you see towards the inner part of the Mouth something like a Nerve, which also reacheth towards the under part, and there endeth itself, whereby the Bill is opened and shut.

His Feet have also but three Claws, joyned with a red Skin between them, with three short and strong Nails; the Legs are but short, and of a red colour; he walks wabbling.

About his Eyes he hath a red ring, and above this Ring stands upright a little Horn, and un∣derneath the Eyes lyeth another little, longish, black Horn cross over; as you may see in the Figure.

His Tail is short: The Head is black at the top unto the Horn; but his Cheeks are white; about his Neck he hath a black Ring; all his Back and Wings also, at the top or the outside, are black, but underneath the Belly is white. They fly either singly or by pairs, and have sharp pointed Wings like the Lumbs. He will keep a great while under Water. He eats like the rest, red Shrimps or Prawns, and Star-fish, for I found something in his Stomach that look∣eth like pieces thereof, but they were almost digested.

He hath more Flesh upon him than the di∣ving Pigieon, and is very good to eat. I never saw him among the Ice. This whereof I shew you the draught was shot at Schmerenberg in Spitzbergen, on the 20th day of June, but aftrer∣wards we got several more. In the Tab. K see d.

IX. of the Mountain-Duck.

Hitherto we have described the web-footed Birds that have three Claws that are not divi∣ded, that I saw and got about Spitzbergen; I must now describe those that have undivided Feet with four Claws, whereof I found three sorts, viz. the Mountain-Duck, kirmew, and Mallemucke.

The Mountain-Duck is a kind of our wild Duck, or rather wild Goose, for she is of the bigness of a middling Goose, and is more like a Goose about the Bill. It is a very handsom Bird, because of its delicate spotted Feathers. They dive under Water as other Ducks do. The Drake hath black and white spotted Fea∣thers,

and the Duck hath Feathers of the co∣lour of a Partridge. The hindmost Claw is broad and short, with a short Nail; the Tail is bobb'd, like that of other Ducks. I could find nothing in their Mews or Gizzards that could make me certain of thier Food, but only Sand-stones. They fly a great many of them in flocks like other wild Ducks; when they do see any Men, they hold up their Heads and make a very long Neck. They make their Nests upon the low Islands; they make them of the Feathers of their Bellies, which they mix with Moss; but these are not the same Feathers which are called the Edder-down.

We found their Nests with two, three, or four Eggs in them, the most whereof were rot∣ten when we came to Spitzbergen, but some of them were good to eat; they are of a pale green, somewhat bigger than our Duck-eggs; the Seamen made an hole at each end, and so blew the White and the Yolk out, and strung the Shells upon a Packthread. I would have brought some of them to Hamburgh, but they began to stink, so that I was forced to fling them away, although the Shells were entire. These Ducks have a very good Flesh, we boyl'd and rosted them as we did the other Birds, but the fat of them we flung away, for it tasted of Train-oyl, and made us vomit.

The Ships that arrived at Spitzbergen before us got a great many of them.

These Mountain-Ducks are not at all shy, or afraid of Men, when we first arrive there, but afterwards they grow quite wild, so that you can hardly come near enough to shoot them. That which I have drawn here was shot in the

South Bay (in Spitzbergen) on the 18th of June; it is marked with c in the Tab. M.

X. Of the Kirmew.

The Kirmew hath a thin sharp-pointed Bill, as red as Blood; the shews very large, especi∣ally when she stands upright, because of her long Wings, and Feathers of her Tail, but when the Feathers are off, there is no more Meat than upon a Sparrow. It is peculiar to this Bird to have very sharp pointed Wings, and its Tail is longer than that of a Swallow, and as long as the longest Feather of the Wings. Because of these long and sharp-pointed Fea∣thers in her Wing and Tail, she might very properly be called the Swallow-mew, but it is commonly called Kirmew from its Cry. The Claws, as well as the Skin between them, are as red as Blood; the Nails are black on all the four Claws; the hindmost Claw is very little: The Legs are short and red: it shews very brisk and pert when it stands upright on its Legs. The Head at the top is black, like a black Cap; the sides of the Head are Snow white, and the whole Body is of a Silver co∣lour, or white enclining to grey; the Wings and Tail are white underneath; one side of the Feathers of the Wings are black. All these differing colours, together with the Blood-red Bill, red Legs and Feet, make her very beauti∣ful her Feathers are thready or hairy; she flies singly, for so I saw her always in the South Haven, and in other places where we were. Where their Nests are they fly in great num∣bers; These they make of Moss. One can hard∣ly

discern their Eggs from their Nests, for both of them are of a dirty white, but the Eggs have black specks; they are of the bignest of a Pi∣geon's Egg; I eat of them at Spttzbergen, and found them very good, they tasted like the Lapwings Eggs; the Yolk was red, and the White blewish; they are very sharp-pointed at one end. She defends her Nest and Eggs, and flies directly at a Man, biting and crying. It is the same with her as what we say of the Lap∣wing; she endeavours to defend all the Mea∣dow, and yet cannot defend her own Nest.

I brought about thirty of their Eggs with me to Hamburgh, but they were rotten and stunk. It is a kind of a Hawk, and throws herself into the Water, as othe Mews do.

I am of an opinion, that she feeds on thee small grey Worms, and perhaps on Shrimps and Prawns, for I found no other Food they could get.

I shot but one single Bird of them flying, whitch I did not eat of, because the large shot had torn it very much.

This Bird is quite grey in our Countries, which differs much from that of Spizbergen, whose Feathers are much finer. That here deli∣neated, was shot, by the Birds Song in Spitzber∣gen, on the 20th of June. See it Tab. N, at b.

XI. Of the Mallemucke.

This Bird hath a remarkable Bill, which is severally divided: The uppermost Bill hath next to the Head oblong and small Nostrils; underneath them groweth out as it was a new Bill, that rises up, is crooked and very sharp∣pointed.

The under part of the Bill consists partly of four pieces, two whereof meet in a point to∣gether downwars, the other two gape upwards; the two undermost that meet in a point, meet exactly with the point of the upper Bill. The hinder Claw of the Feet of this Bird is very small, of a grey colour, and so are the other Claws and the Skin between them. The Tail is somewaht broad, the Wings are longish after the manner of the Kirmew. They are not al∣ways of the same colour; some are quite grey, which we take to be the oldest, others are grey, on their Back and Wings, but their Head and Belly are white, which are the young ones: This is generally thought, but I am of opinion, that this difference of colour proceeds rather form a difference in kind than from a difference in age; for the grey ones I only saw about Spitzbergen, but they grey and white ones, al∣though I have seen some few of them at Spitz∣bergen, yet we saw abundance more about the North Cape, and Also about Hitland and England. He flies like a great Mew, hovers near the Water with a very small motion of his Wings.

They do not avoid a Strorm as our Mews do, but they take good and bad together, as it hap∣pens; ours bend themselves like an Ear of Corn with the Wind, which the Mallemucks do not: They do not much care for diving, but when they wash themselves they sit upon the Water, and put their Wings a-cross one over the other: They fly singly; when they go to fly up thye wabble a great way before they can raise themselves upon the Wind, but the Lumbs and Parrets that have but small Wings do it more. When they ran upon the Deck of the Ship, They could not fly up before they came

to a place where a step went down, or from some advantageous rise. They flock in great numbers when we catch Whales, and light down upon the live Whales, bite them in their Backs, and pick out great pieces of his fat, even when he is yet alive, and when we cut up the dead Whales, there came so many of them about us, that we could not imagine from whence they could all come, so that we were forced to kill them with Sticks and with broad Nets in Frames, such as they use in the Tenis-Court, to be rid of them: They are so bold, that they would not fly away, although they saw us caome upon them, but suffered them∣selves to be killed in great numbers, which we hung upon the Tackle of our Ship.

But after they began to be more shy of us, and would not stay so long. They flock in so great numbers after the Whales, that many of them are discovered by them; wherefore I fan∣cy, that he flings up some fat when he blows the Water out, which the Mallemucks eat. But a great many more, when the Whale is woun∣ded, follow the bloody track left in ther Water, for then they are numberless. They also often discover a dead Whale, and so we get them sometimes without any great trouble.

His Name is given him, because he is so silly or mad (which the Dutch call Mall) to suffer himself to be so easily killed, whereunto is put the word Mucke, which signifies a Gnatt, be∣cause they are as numerous as Gantts; so that the Name Mallemucke signifieth as much as silly Gnatts, or mad Gantts.

They eat so much of the fat of the Whales, till they spew it up again, and tumble them selves over and over in the water until they vo∣mit

up the Train-oyl, and then they begin to eat afresh, until they grow weary of eating: They bite one another, and fight together, which is very good sport, about a piece of Fat, fiercely, although there is enough for them all, and to spare.

When they are full they rest upon the Ice or Water. I really believe it is the most devou∣ring Bird of all, for he eats till he can stand no longer, but falls down. He bites very hard, but the Burgermeister bites yet harder, to whom he submits himself, and lies down before him to be bit by the Burgermeister, which he does very severely, yet the Mallemucke feels little or nothing of it, his Feathers are so thick; which I conclude, because he is not easily shot, but will endure a great blow; nor is it easie to kill him with a Stick at one blow. When they steer themselves in the Water with their Legs, they have countinually an eye upon their Prey, yet they mind both the Man and their Prey; but if you have a long Stick, they can∣not get up so soon or swift but you may have a blow at them. He is the first and commonest Bird of all you see in Greenland; they cry all togehter, and it sounds afar off as if they were Frogs. He walks but ill upon the Land and Ice, like a Child that just learns to go, but he understands better to fly; you see him always near unto the surface of the Water, for he is very light. Of all the Birds of Prey, I believe, he hath the least Meat on him. He builds his Nest high on the Mountains, yet not so very high as the Bungermeister, yet it was too high for me, I could not come at them. His Breast and Legs only are to be eaten, they are tough, and taste strong of Train oyl; when

you will eat them you must hang them up by the Legs, that the Fat of the Whales, or the Train-oyl, may run out of them, for two or three day, and that the Wind may blow thro' them and the Frost pierce then also; them you lay them into fresh Water, that the rank∣ness may be drawn out, afterwards boil and fry them in Butter. They are every where seen in the North Sea, as I have said before, yet they are differing. This that you see here I did design among the Ice the first of June. Tab. N at c.