Charlie, I have no real answer I am afraid, but 'burres' could be a corruption of 'murres'. I'm not sure how common true murres are on the west coast, though there are plenty of types of puffin there. I wonder if 'quebrantahuessoses' could be a type of goose, since 'Branta' is the goose genus (think also of brants). If you find out the answer I hope you tell us all! Good luck on your sleuthing. Ian Ian Stewart Department of Biology University of Kentucky Lexington KY 40506-0225 (859) 323-9499 itsacharliebrownchristmas@xxxxxxxxxxx From: cr4d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [birdky] No sighting. Literary/bird question: what is a quebrantahuessoses? Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:18:06 -0500 I have been reading "The Voyages of Captain Cook"On his 3rd voyage heading up the west coast of North America he refers to the birds he encounters. Quote: "or flying about in flocks or pairs, the chief of which were a few quebrantahuessoses, divers, ducks, or large peterels, gulls, shags, and burres." I know about divers, ducks, petrels and shags.But what the heck are quebrantahuessoses????????????Google and Bing only come up with the text of the book.Or what about a burre???Google only comes up with recent people with that name. CharlieHenderson Co. _________________________________________________________________ Windows 7: It helps you do more. Explore Windows 7. http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/windows-7/default.aspx?ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_evergreen3:102009