78 U. S. p. R. R EXP. AND SURVEYS — 47TH PARALLEL. 



PKOOTON HERNANDEZII, Wagler. 



Black Footed Raccoon. 



Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 212. 



The raccoon is not an abundant animal in any part of the Territory. I have but rarely seen 

 their peculiar foot tracks in the mud, and never saw the animal itself in the woods. The skins 

 are not often seen among the Indians. I had, however, an opportunity of observing a tame 

 one at Portland, Oregon, which, as well as one I afterwards saw in California, had precisely 

 the same habits, impatient cry, and sagacious inquisitiveness, as one which I once kept for 

 many months, and allowed to have perfect liberty. The colors, size, and proportions also showed 

 no appreciable differences. 



Though this animal has a reputed fondness for oysters, I never saw any signs of its visiting 

 the extensive beds at Shoalwater bay, though it sometimes walked along the banks of creeks 

 emptying into the bay. 



URSUS AMERICANUS, Pallas. 



Black Bear. 



P.AiRD. Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 225. 



The common black bear of the United States is quite abundant in the wooded portions of the 

 Territory, where it is found varying much in color, from which circumstance some authors have 

 supposed that there was more than one species ; I knew, however, of an instance of a black fe- 

 male being killed with a number of cubs, all differing in color. One of them, which I saw, was 

 of a light yellowish hue. The color, then, does not even indicate a different race, as it varies 

 in the young of one litter. 



I have seen bears at a distance, but never got near one, which it is almost imjiossible to do 

 without dogs, in the dense forests and thickets that they frequent. It is said that before lying 

 down they always walk some distance with the wind^ so that anything following their track 

 must necessarily approach to windward and thus give them a chance to escape. From the 

 abundance of " signs" in almost every thicket, and the quantities of berries devoured by them, 

 they seem to be extremely common, and their food must be almost entirely vegetable. I have 

 seen in low springy grounds a kind of "skunk cabbage" torn up by them and the leaf stalks 

 devoured. They sometimes also take pigs and other small stock from the farmer, and devour 

 the dead salmon on river banks in spring and fall. They are almost always fat, unlike their 

 more carnivorous relatives. Several different shrubs are called "Bear berry"* and "Bear 

 wood," from their fondness for the fruit, which is, I believe, in every instance uneatable by man. 



URSUS HORIBILIS, r d . 



Grizzly Bear. 



Baird, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 219. 



The "Grizzly" is not found in the western wooded regions, nor, I believe, anywhere west of 

 the Rocky mountains in this Territory. 



PHOCA. 



Seal. 



Seals frequent the bays and rivers of the Territory in great numbers, ascending the Columbia 



* ^rbutui Uva- Ursi ; Xylosteum involucratmn ; Rhamnus Purshianus. 



