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Anthony,
Maybe people who have handled them (in banding
adults at sea) can advise whether they stink (more than other sea birds). Young
seabirds are said to vomit over people as a defensive measure. I have not been
unlucky enough to experience that but I imagine that would be very smelly.
Cayley's book also called them "Glutton".
One may need to ask who was "Mother
Carey", probably noone. There is a book (I don't have it) about English
bird names explained. Also J.D. McDonald's book "The Illustrated Dictionary
of Australian Birds by common name" gives good clues. It also says Mother
Carey's Chicken for Storm-Petrel. That provides a good clue, also in that Petrel
comes from Saint Peter for walking on water (as the small petrels sometimes
appear to do). It suggested that "Mother Carey" is a corruption of
"mater cara" (apparently means holy mother or other such religious
saying) "because seamen regarded them as harbingers of bad weather, to whom
storm-tossed sailors prayed for protection". Also suggested from Mother
Carey's Goose that sailors on Cook's voyages referred to the Giant-Petrel as
such and it was "adopted it from some unknown hag of that name". A hag
being a wild or unpleasant woman and the term "hag" is also used for
wild caught female Peregrine Falcons. I suggest though it makes more sense that
the origins of the names Mother Carey's Chicken and Mother Carey's Goose would
have to be connected, with the obvious feature that the Southern Giant-Petrel is big! Maybe sailors ate these
birds.
All very unpleasant concepts and I am
only repeating prior suggestions.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From:
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To:
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Date:
Friday, 23 November 2001 15:40
Subject: Re: Other english
names for Southern Giant-Petrel
Vulture of the sea
was one of the more straight forward ones I could figure
out. I guess
bone-shaker is like that too. But Mother Carey's Goose??
Where's that
from? And do they actually stink?
A
I would have thought they relate to an
amphropomorphic, derogatory description of the inelegant, even brutal,
feeding methods of this bird. One of the Attenborough programs described
them as vultures of the sea but they are also predators, rather less
appealing in manner than vultures are.
PV
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