110 
ZOOLOGY. 
COLYMBUS GLACIALIS. 
Loon. 
The loon inhabits all the waters of California and Oregon. The mountain lakes of the Cascade 
range we generally found occupied by one or more of these birds. Sometimes a single one, the 
only living thing visible, sailing slowly around over the surface, and from time to time raising 
its wailing cry, seemed the very embodiment of solitude. 
When encamped beside one of these lonely lakes the silence of the night was frequently hi oken 
by the quavering cry of the loon, which came to us echoed from forest or mountain with an effect 
indescribably touching and sad. 
PODICEPS OCCIDENTALIS. 
Western Grebe. 
I obtained specimens of this beautiful grebe on San Pablo hay, California, in November. On 
the lakes of the interior we saw nothing of it. It is probably nearly confined to the immediate 
vicinity of the coast. It occurs at the mouth of the Columbia. 
PODICEPS -? 
Exceedingly abundant about San Francisco, and extending up the streams far into the interior. 
It is also common on the Columbia and the interior lakes of Oregon. This and the next species 
are sometimes brought into the markets of San Francisco, hut are so “fishy ” as to be uneatable. 
PODICEPS CALIFORNICUS. 
Common in the bays and streams of California and Oregon. 
URIA TROILE. 
The Foolish Guillemot. 
This guillemot is exceedingly abundant along the coast of California, particularly in the rocky 
islands which lie in the Pacific, near the coast. At the Farallones they exist in great numbers, 
exhibiting the same tendency to congregate at the breeding season, and the same stupidity or 
devotion to their duties which has elsewhere earned them the name they hear. In the absence 
of domestic fowls in California, the demand for eggs in San Francisco has been almost entirely 
supplied from these islands, and a trade amounting to many thousands of dollars a year is kept 
up in eggs alone. The greater part of these eggs are those of the foolish guillemot. 
URIA -? 
This small guillemot is not uncommon on the California coast. 
MORMON CIRRHATUS. 
Puffin. 
I saw this bird only on two or three occasions in California. It is confined to the coast, 
and chooses in preference the rocky islands off shore. At the Farallones it is abundant, still 
more so along the coast northward. 
