In the bays along the shore,
the mackarel and bonita, the turtle, and, unfortunately, the sharks, are
very numerous; while on the shelly beach, or the fissures of the rocks,
are to be found lobsters, and crabs of various sorts.
The whole country offers a vast field to the naturalist; the most common
birds of prey are the bald, the white-headed eagle, the black and the
grey, the falcon, the common hawk, the epervier, the black and
red-headed vulture, the raven and the crow. Among the granivorous, the
turkey, the wapo (a small kind of prairie ostrich), the golden and
common pheasant, the wild peacock, of a dull whitish colour, and the
guinea-fowl; these two last, which are very numerous, are not indigenous
to this part of the country, but about a century ago escaped from the
various missions of Upper California, at which they had been bred, and
since have propagated in incredible numbers; also the grouse, the
prairie hen, the partridge, the quail, the green parrot, the blackbird,
and many others which I cannot name, not knowing their generic
denomination. The water-fowls are plentiful, such as swans, geese, ducks
of many different species, and the Canadian geese with their long black
necks, which, from November to March, graze on the prairies in
thousands.
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