QUADRUPEDS. 45 



enormous size but watery taste, are met with in 

 considerable quantities. 



The sea, near the coast and in the bays, 

 abounds in fish and in mammaha. Whales, 

 sea-hogs, seals, sea-lions, &c. are very numerous; 

 but of the fish, which chiefly afford subsistence 

 both to the natives and the Russians, the best 

 are herrings, salmon, and cod, of which there is 

 a superfluity. There is no great variety of 

 birds native to this coast ; but the beautiful 

 white-headed eagle, and several sorts of pretty 

 humming-birds, migrate from warmer climates 

 to build their nests in Sitka. It is extraordi- 

 nary that these tender little creatures, always 

 inhabiting hot countries, should venture thus 

 far northwards. 



Among the quadrupeds frequenting the 

 forests is the black bear, whose skin fetches 

 so high a price in Russia, and a species of 

 wild sheep known to us only by the de- 

 scriptions of the Kalushes, and in which our 

 natural histories are still deficient. It differs 

 greatly from that of Kamtschatka : its wool 

 rivals silk in the delicacy and softness of its 

 texture. The most remarkable animal, how- 



