TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 
387 
Taye. The horns of this species are manufactured into spoons 
and various other useful articles. 
Bos Americanus, The Bison, so well known to western 
hunters, and so numerous on the prairies between the Rocky 
mountains and the United States, can hardly be considered a 
Californian animal. That it once inhabited the country there 
can be no doubt, but probably in consequence of the great and 
singular change which has converted the interior from a rich 
and fertile plain into a desolate waste, the bison has receded, 
and is now only to be found, and that in small numbers, on 
the extreme eastern and northern border. 
Lutra marina , The Sea Otter, and Lutra Brasiliensis , The 
Land Otter, are found in many parts of the country. The 
former is abundant in most parts of the whole coast, and at 
the mouths of the rivers.* 
Of rats, mice, marmots, and squirrels, there are numerous 
species, only one or two of which seem worthy of notice. 
The common rat, the black rat, and two or three different 
* This is perhaps the most valuable fur-producing animal of the coun 
try, and its skin is much sought after by the Russians for the purpose of 
adorning the cloaks and state robes of the nobility. The fur is of a vel¬ 
vety brown color on the back, and sprinkled with black and silky hairs, 
and the lower parts of the animal are of a rich silvery grey. The sea otter 
is from five to six feet in length, and weighs from thirty to forty pounds, 
its body being of very slender proportions. The hinder legs are very short, 
the tail short, broad, and paddle-shaped. The color varies at different 
periods-of life ; when very young, the fur is thin and scanty, and the skin 
principally covered with brown hair ; from this period till full grown, the 
color is nearly black, with many hairs tipped with white, and the face, 
throat, breast, and sometimes the entire belly, are yellowish white, or very 
light brown. The fur gradually increases in thickness and length until 
the animal attains its growth, when it assumes the rich brown of maturity, 
which in extreme age becomes a chestnut, or even a perfect yellow color. 
The sea otter lives, sometimes in families of considerable numbers, on 
the sea-washed rocks, and mostly in the water. It frequently rises to the 
surface, and utters a hoarse snapping bark like that of an angry dog. It 
feeds on fish, and brings forth its young in holes dug in the sand. The 
skins are worth from $00 to $100 each. The shores of California would 
furnish from 20,000 to 30,000 annually. 
