[birdky] No Sighting. Quebrantahuessos results

  • From: Charles Crawford <cr4d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: BIRDKY <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:11:19 -0500

Thanks to all those who responded: Ian, Frank, Marty, Ralph, Ben, Ian S., Terry, and David.


Well, from more Google searching and respondents:

It appears that Captain Cook inserted an extra 's' in the word.

Quebrantahuesos (Spanish) is a Bone Breaker, Bearded Vulture, or Lammergeier. Basically all the same bird. But, obviously not the bird that Captain Cook sees off the NW coast of North America.

So, I think, the Captain was trying to convey what the bird looked like that he was seeing.
One Spanish to English website gives a translation as Osprey.

Therefore, I am going with Osprey.

I know its not a Bald Eagle because earlier in his book he describes it very well.

Any other input is appreciated.

Maybe we learned something.

Maybe somebody else will try to read The Voyages of Captain Cook. Interesting book. Taking place from 1768 into 1779. The book is separated into 3 parts each of which is a separate voyage exploring the unknown or barely known world of his time. What makes the reading a chore sometimes is the first two books are written in the 3rd person, with 'they" being used to indicated Captain Cooks people, and "they" also being used to refer to the islanders he meets. Plus the 18th century writing (while of course in English) is very different from our current style. Fortunately the 3rd part, or voyage, is written in the 1st person. Much easier to read. And its as if, having done all this writing, he is getting better at writing and relating what is interesting.

Charlie
Henderson Co.





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