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While crossing the Strait we are surrounded by a great variety of sea-birds, among which are the cape-pigeon, the stormy petrel, and the gannet, which last is the largest of ocean birds next to the albatross. On drawing still nearer to the shore, flocks of pelicans are observed upon the rocks, and that most awkward of birds, the penguin, is seen in idle groups.
How often, when becalmed on southern seas, when not a breath of air was stirring and the sails idly flapped against the mast, have I seen the albatross, the petrel, and the Cape-pigeon resting on the water, or rising with difficulty, and only by the constant motion of their long wings able to fly at all.
The most widely dispersed were Daption capensis the pintado or Cape-pigeon of voyagers Procellaria hasitata, P. coerulea, P. lessonii, and P. gigantea, of which the first and second were the most numerous and readily took a bait towing astern. It is probable that all these species make the circuit of the globe, as they are equally distributed over the South Indian Ocean.
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