constantly served to both crews, so that our consumption was computed at
about sixty puncheons of five hundred weight each. Besides this, and the
incredible waste which, in the midst of such plenty, was not to be guarded
against, sixty puncheons more were salted for sea-store. The greatest part
of this supply was drawn from the island of Owhyhee alone, and yet we could
not perceive that it was at all drained, or even that the abundance had any
way decreased.

The birds of these islands are as beautiful as any we have seen during the
voyage, and are numerous, though not various. There are four, which seem to
belong to the _trochili_, or honey-suckers of Linnæus; one of which is
something larger than a bullfinch; its colour is a fine glossy black, the
rump, vent, and thighs, a deep yellow. It is called by the natives
_hoohoo_. Another is of an exceedingly bright scarlet colour; the
wings black, and edged with white, and the tail black; its native name is
_eeeeve_. A third, which seems to be either a young bird, or a variety
of the foregoing, is variegated with red, brown, and yellow. The fourth is
entirely green, with a tinge of yellow, and is called _akaiearooa_.
There is a species of thrush, with a grey breast, and a small bird of the
flycatcher kind; a rail, with very short wings and no tail, which, on that
account, we named _rallus ecaudatus_. Ravens are found here, but they
are very scarce; their colour is dark-brown, inclining to black, and their
note is different from the European. Here are two small birds, both of one
_genus_, that are very common; one is red, and generally seen about
the cocoa-nut trees, particularly when they are in flower, from whence it
seems to derive great part of its subsistence, the other is green; the
tongues of both are long and ciliated, or fringed at the tip. A bird with a
yellow head, which, from the structure of its beak, we called a parroquet,
is likewise very common. It however by no means belongs to that tribe, but
greatly resembles the _lexia flavicans_, or yellowish cross-bill of