404 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP. Porpoises and whales are numerous outside the harbour, and the com- 
nion seal may occasionally be seen basking on the rocks ofYerba- 
Dec. buena, and other places. 
The feathered tribe in San Francisco are very numerous, and have 
as yet been so little molested, that there must be a rich harvest in store 
for the first naturalist who shall turn his attention to this place. We 
succeeded in killing a great many birds of different species, several of 
which were found to be quite new, and will be described in the natural 
history, which will shortly appear as a supplement to this voyage: 
but there are not many wliich delight either by the brilliancy or 
beauty of their plumage, or by the melody of their note. The birds of 
prey are the black vulture ( vidtus aura), sometimes large ; several species 
of falco, one of which attacks the geese, and is in consequence called 
mato gansas, also a kite, and a sparrow hawk. The horned owl (a variety 
of the strix virginiana ? ) flies about after dark to the terror of the super- 
stitious Indians, who imagine its screech forebodes evil. Several species 
of oriolus are met with in the plains, and one, the oriolus phoeuiceus, is 
seen in immense flocks. The natives say that this bird, which in its 
first year is of a greyish black colour, changes to deep black in the 
second, and ultimately becomes black with red shoulders ; but Mr. 
Collie thinks there is some error in this. There is another oriolus which 
frequents moist and rushy places ; crows in great numbers, some which 
• are white, and smaller than those of England ; and several species of 
finches, buntings, and sparrows, prove very destructive to the grain when 
sown. The magpie is also an inhabitant here, and a small blue jay fre- 
quents the woods. The California quail ( tetrao virginiatius ), wood pigeons 
with bronzed imbricated feathers on the back of the neck, plovers ( chara- 
driiis hiaticula ? ), snipes, several species of sanderlings ( tringa), razorbills 
( liematopus ), herons ( ardea ), curlew ( scolopax linosa and recurvirostra ), 
and two species of raUus, afforded amusement to our sportsmen, as did 
also some of the many species of geese, ducks, widgeon, and teal, which 
frequent the lakes and plains. The two latter species and one of the 
anas ( erycthropus ? ) were similar to those which had been seen in 
Kotzebue Sound, and the natives remark that they arrive from the 
north in the month of September, and depart again in May. The grey 
