The herald., 1896-03-15

n E6RlOu I'll ca
whether it be the enlargement Of the
so-called "California story" the breath
ing capacity of tone lunger," the
head of cabbage, or the peculiarly
freakish appearance of certain things
that would make glad the heart of
dime museum manager. Most OF this
delineation has been confined to the
vegetable kingdom. We have heard
again and again of the tremendous size
OF the vegetables, and of the several
hundred Thousand blossom editions Of
the rose bushes, but comparatively
little has been said OF the animal king
do m bar ring NAM in an exposition Of
that kind. 1t would take volumes to
even briefly describe all of these crea-
lures, as there re over seven hundred
distinct spec les of animals. birds and
Ash alone, found here. AS space is
limited, but very few of them will be
mentioned briefly here.
There are about one hundred and
fifteen species of wild animals in Cali
fornia. The greatest of these, the mon
arch of the forest, the most powerful
and formidable Of American wild ami
mails, the grizzly bear. although in for
mer times quite common, is now seldom
seen, and as it's numbers are fast dimin
ishing it will probably before many
years become extinct. These great
beasts-weighing often nearly a ton
used to cause considerable loss and
trouble to the ranchmen, carrying off
horses and cattle bodily and devouring
them, but they have now become SO
scarce that they cause but little annoy
ance even to tho isolated mountain
ranchman. They not only eat tlesh for
their food, but are fond of berries,
roots and honey. The average length
of life of the grizzly bear is fifteen
years.
The California panther or mountain
lion, alth ough of great size-measur-
ing from ten to dozen feet from tip
to tip and weighing several hundred
Eounds-is cowarlly animal and for
this reason is seldom seen, although
quite numerous III the mountains.
They hunt their prey at night, spring
ing upon it from the limbs of trees
and sucking its blood with relish At
intervals during the night they scream
in most unearthly manner. The Gin
namon, the black and the brown bear
are often seen in the mountains. They
are not nearly as large nor as savage
as the grizzly bear, and will usually
run rather than fight when come upon
by man, unless suffering from hunger.
In certain localities antelope and deer
are common. The black-tailed deer
are the most numerous, but the mule
deer are larger, and they shed their
antlers every year, each growth being
larger than the last. The deer kill
by placing their four sharp hoofs to-
gether and jumping upon the snake
when coiled.
Wildcats are numerous in the mount
aims, and are very destructive, killing
lambs, chickens and other things weak.
er than themselves wantOnly, for the
mere pleasure of it. The cowardly
coyote is an inveterate chicken thief.
and so great pest did he become that
bounty of So head was offered in
the hope of exterminating him, and
during two years over $4,000 were
killed in the state. They go about in
bands of four or more, and make night
hideous with their bowling. The rae
coon has the peculiar trait of washing
its food in the river or creek before
eating it, and when living near this sea
they eat great numbers of crabs and
she]lfsh, opening the shells with their
paws.
Bighorn sheep are occasionally seen
on the high mountains but are very
shy and leap up the cliffs and over the
chasms at the first alarm. Gray wolves
are rare but are sometimes seen, and
the red fox and the badger are COM
monty met with in certain localities.
The jack rabbit and the little cotton
tail rabbit are numerous and are very
destructive to orchards, chewing the
young trees and destroying them. The
jack rabbit runs with great speed, its
long earS-which are twice the length
of those of the eastern rabbit-stand-
ing straight up in the air. Another
pest of the orchardist is the gopher,
little bright-eyed animal about the size
Of the mole and burrowing in some
what similar manner, although differ
ing in it's method of excavating. The
mole plows through the ground, but
the gopher removes the dirt by filling
up two pouches which it has--one on
each side of its neck-and then carry
ing it to the surface. where it is depos-
tied in piles. The gopher works less
than an hour at time and then covers
over the mouth of the hole. When
caught away from his hole he will fight
rather than run. They are very de-
structive. eating the roots Of fruit
trees and gnawing the bark.
But most destructive of all the Cali
fornia animals is the ground squirrel
They not only eat the roots, branches
and fruit of the trees, but they destroy
great quantities of grain. What they
cannot eat they store away for use in
the dry summer months when food is
scarce. Ground owls and snakes live
with the squirrels in their holes, which
they dig twenty and thirty feet deep,
throwing the dirt out and forming
great mounds, through which horses
while plowing will sometimes break
and half bury themselves. Poison is
the best exterminator of these pests,
although they arc trapped, smoked and
drowned out. These ground squirrels
in common with hsnS other rodents,
can ~ without WAGER, but dry winter
stops their increase. The mountain
squirrels are found above an altitude
of about $500 feet, and they are larger
and finer than the ground squirrel and
have long, bushy tails. The queer lit
tie prairie dogs live somewhat after
the manner of the ground squirrel,
and the rats in this country build their
nests in the trees, There is strange