The trumpeter-swan (Cygnus buccinator) is a very large bird, measuring five feet from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, and six feet across from tip to tip of the outstretched wings. The plumage is snowy-white in color, its legs and bill black. The name of "trumpeter" is given to it because of its clarion-like scream, which is heard as it flies. It frequents the lakes in the northern and northeastern parts of the state, and is sometimes seen in the rivers. It is a shy bird, and is rarely killed.

The American swan, found also on the Atlantic slope of the continent, is similar in appearance and size to the trumpeter, but lacks its loud voice, and is otherwise distinguishable from it chiefly by having an orange-colored spot on its bill in front of the eye, whereas the bill of the Cygnus buccinator is entirely black.

Wild geese are very abundant in California during the spring and fall, when they pass through on their migrations. Among them are the Canada goose (Bernicla canadensis), the snow-goose (Anser hyperboreus), the white-footed goose, or speckled belly" (Anser erythropus), Hutchins's goose (Ber nicla hutchinsii), and the black brandt (Bernicla nigricans). Hutchins's goose is more abundant than any of the others. Some of them, while in the state, get all their food in the tules; others in the spring resort to the fields of young grain, where they pasture. Dr. Newberry says: "I was much interested in noticing the perfect harmony of intercourse which seemed to exist among the smaller species. They intermingled freely while feeding, and when alarmed arose without separation; and I have seen a triangle flying steadily high over my head, composed of individuals of three species, each plainly distinguishable by its plumage, but each holding its place in the geometrical figure, as though it was composed of entirely homogeneous material; perhaps unequal members of the darker species, with three, four, or more pure snow-white geese flying together somewhere in the converging lines."

Among the ducks of California are the mallard and canvas

back. The meat of the latter has not so fine a flavor as in the Eastern states, probably because it does not here find the wild celery upon which it feeds along the streams of the middle

states.

Many of the geese and ducks pass the winter in California, where they find an abundance of food in the grain-fields and tules.

The murre, or foolish guillemot (Uria ringvin), is similar to the gulls, seventeen inches long, dark-brown above and white beneath, with transverse stripes of ashy-brown on its sides. Its throat is brown in summer and white in winter. It frequents the islands along the coast, and lays its eggs there on the bare ground or rocks. These eggs are wonderfully irregular in form, size, and color, but are generally about three and a half inches long, sea-green in color, with dark-brown spots of angular shapes on them. Quantities of these eggs are obtained every year at the Farallones, and are sold in the San Francisco market at about half the price of hen's eggs per dozen, or, if taken by weight, at one-fourth. Their taste, however, is rank, and they are not used by those who can afford to buy the hen's eggs.

Dr. Heermann says: "At one o'clock every day during the egg season, Sundays and Thursdays excepted (this is to give the birds some little respite), the egg-hunters meet on the south side of the island. The roll is called, to see that all are present, that each one may have an equal chance in gathering the spoil. The signal is given, every man starting off at a full run for the most productive egging-grounds. The gulls (Larus occidentalis, Western gull), understanding, apparently, what is about to occur, are on the alert, hovering overhead, and awaiting only the advance of the party. The men rush eagerly into the rookeries; the affrighted murres have scarcely risen from their nests, before the gull, with remarkable instinct, not to say almost reason, flying but a few paces ahead of the hunter, alights on the ground, tapping such eggs as the short time will allow, before the egger comes up with him. The broken

eggs are passed by the men, who remove only those which are sound. The gull, then returning to the field of its exploits, procures a plentiful supply of its favorite food."

§ 107. Fishes.-The fishes of the coast and rivers of California are all different from those of the Atlantic side of the continent, with the exception, perhaps, of one species of the halibut. The cod and shad, two of the most important fishes of the sea of the Eastern shore, and the lobster among crustaceans, are here wanting, as also the cat-fish kind in the rivers. Otherwise our waters are probably as rich in game for the fisherman as those of any country.

§ 108. Salmon.-The most important fish of California is the quinnat salmon (Salmo quinnat), a species found from Point Conception to the Columbia River. Its color above is olivaceous brown, changing to salmon-color beneath. The largest one ever caught weighed sixty-two pounds; the common size. is from ten to thirty pounds. The salmon are born in the rivers, but go down to the sea, where they spend part of every year. They commence to enter the bay of San Francisco in November, and continue to come in for three or four months. They ascend the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and some of their smaller tributaries, deposit their spawn, and in June go out to sea again. They come in lean and go out lean, but in the late winter and early spring they are fat. There are two common popular errors, that the salmon do not eat after leaving the sea, and that they never get back alive. The former error is owing to the fact that no large articles of food are found in its stomach, and the latter to the fact that when going out all are lean, and that many are found dead along the banks of salmon-streams. But the salmon find their chief food in minute animalculæ, and not in fish, for catching which they seem to be so well fitted, with their large mouths and sharp teeth. It is well known that the salmon bite like trout, and furnish excellent sport in clear water to the skilful fisherman with the fly. They dislike the mud with which the streams emptying into San Francisco Bay are filled by the miners, and therefore

do not go far from the sea or ascend the small tributaries; but elsewhere they ascend every little brook, up to points where there is scarcely enough water for them to swim; and in these expeditions they are so much exhausted and bruised that they soon die; but the number thus killed is as nothing compared with those which go out to sea again. The female salmon having found a suitable place, uses her nose to dig a trench in the sand about six feet long, a foot wide, and three inches deep, and having deposited her spawn in it, throws a little sand over it with her tail, and departs, leaving her eggs to be hatched and the offspring to be fed as best they can. In the month of May the young salmon are found on their way to the sea, from three to six inches long. It is supposed that the salmon always return to the river in which they were born; so that the salmon born in the Klamath River never enter San Francisco Bay, nor do those born in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers ever enter Humboldt Bay. Although the season in which salmon are abundant in the rivers extends from November to June, yet some of them are found in the streams of California at all seasons, and they can be had fresh in the San Francisco market every day in the year.

The quinnat is the chief salmon of all the streams and bays of California, but Gairdner's salmon (Fario gairdneri) is found in the Klamath River, and the stellatus salmon in Humboldt Bay and its tributaries. Gairdner's salmon has a silvery-gray back, silvery sides, and a yellowish-white belly. The body has numerous indistinct, blackish spots. The stellatus salmon is light-olive in the back, yellowish-white on the belly, and rarely exceeds two or three pounds in weight.

§ 109. Halibut.-There are two species of halibut on the coast of California, the Californian (Hippoglossus californicus) and the common (Hippoglossus vulgaris). There is some doubt whether the latter species is properly named; if it be, then we have one species of fish found on the Atlantic coast. The Californian halibut is a slender fish, weighing at the largest twenty-five pounds, in color grayish-brown above and

white below. The halibut prefer a colder climate, and are not sufficiently abundant in this latitude to sustain a special fishery; but a few are in our market throughout the year. They live in deep water, and in places where the bottom is rocky. They eat little fish and shell-fish, and bite readily at the hook. Their meat is very delicate.

§ 110. Turbot.-The turbot (Pleuronychthys rugosus) is the only large flat-fish, except the halibut, found along our shore. It sometimes grows to weigh twenty pounds, but the common size is from three to ten pounds. The turbot inhabits deep waters and rocky bottoms, eats fish, and bites readily at the hook. It is one of the best fish in our market.

§ 111. Sole. We have four species of small flat-fish, commonly called soles (Psettichthys sordidus, Psettichthys mela nostictus, Parophrys vetulus, and Platessa bilineata). They are so much alike, that they are not distinguished from one another by fishermen generally. The Platessa bilineata is the largest, sometimes weighing two pounds; the others rarely exceed one pound. They frequent the shallow waters of the bay of San Francisco, and are caught abundantly in nets at all seasons of the year. The flat-fishes do not bury themselves in the mud here through the winter, as they do in the North Atlantic. The soles feed on crustacea, little fishes, and marine animalculæ.

§ 112. Mackerel.-The mackerel (Scomber diego) is found north of Point Conception. It is good, but not more than half as large as the Atlantic mackerel. The Californian mackerel rarely exceeds ten inches in length. It lies near the surface of the water at sea, and is not fond of entering bays or going very near the shore. Like its Eastern congener, it bites readily at any white rag or shining white substance jerked through the water.

§ 113. Rock-Fish.-The rock-fish furnish the main supply of fish in the San Francisco market. All belong to the genus Sebastes, of which there are eight species, the most important being the red (rosaceus), black (melanops), and wharf rock