The herald., 1896-03-15

Wv. ito oWoot AOIes, duu lS rs large
here as the quail. The red linnet is
sweet Singer but rather shy. Thousands
OF black birds chatter in the tules.
There are three varieties, pure shiny
black, the female dark gray, black with
red barred wings and black with yell
low bars. Three species Of the beauti-
full orange and black oriole have their
hanging nests in the live oaks. The
blusbird seems Of more intense blue
here than in other places, and like the
robins are very shy and stay most of
the time in the mountain canyons.
Humming birds with breasts of peacock
color and bronze and throats of ruby,
flash about among the flowers, as they
gather the nectar from them. The
woodpecker is called by the Spanish
Los Carpinteros, the carpenter, because
of their habit of piercing the pine and
the sycamore tree with many round
holes, and filling them with acorns,
procuring them the exact size of the
hole. The California partridge, or val
ley quail, is the most beautiful bird Of
the quail family. with it's graceful top
knot dropping forward and its fine
plumage. The mountain quail is mucn
larger than the valley quail, and has a
larger topknot curving backward. The
call Of the wood dove is heard in the
evening in the fields and canyons.
The chaparral cock is known by
many names. 1t is sometimes called
the ground cuckoo, and by the Spanish
courier del camino or pisarro,' but it
is more commonly known as the road
runner. This strange bird is peculiar
to this section of the country. Be-
cause Of its shyness and scarcity but
little is known Of its habits. 1t is
about the size of bantam rooster, but
longer in the body, with bill several
inches long and a tail nearly foot in
length. For it's food it catches and
devours insects, lizards, snakes and
other reptiles, and will even eat small
birds. 1t is almo st always seen on tho
ground, and seldom goes into trees ex-
cept when pursued closely, when it has
been seen to jump from the ground to
branches ten and fifteen feet above it,.
Its feet are different from those of
most birds, having two toes in front
and two behind, and its legs are very
strong. 1t is distinct and isolated
species, roaming about entirely alone,
and usually stays in the roads, running
Wllh " CaU OPOCo ~ ID C1l0 ONCA AoolCl
than horse.
The cormorant, tern, sand hill crane,
sea parrot and the stormy petrol are
found on the coast, and the golden owl
lives in the cliffs. Wild ducks and
geeseare very numerous at certain times
in the year. The bald-headed and black
eagle are sometimes seen soaring far
above. Turkey buzzards are public
scavengers, and they are protected
from destruction by law. The trumpeter
swan is occasionally seen here, and
snow geese are so numerous at certain
times of the year that they give the
ground where they congregate the APP
pearauce OF snow. lu the high interior
mountains 10 fou Id thu great Califor-
MIA condor, sometimes called the vult-
ure. 1t is similar to the condor of the
Andes of South America, and is the
largest bird in a merica, having q epread
Of wings Of from ten 70 eighteen feet
and weighing sometimes nearly l0J
pounds. This bird has been known to
kill and devour IA whole deer in one
half hour, and old-time residents state
that they have known four OF them to
carry off a grizzly bear cub weighing
abou. 100 pounds. Some ten years
ago twenty-five ostriches we're brought
to this section, and now there are sew
eral successful ostrich farms in this
part of the state.
The waters Of the ocean off the coast
of Southern California contain many
odd and curious fish. There are alto
getner 40 species found hero. Near
San Diego and around the islands of
the southern coast ara found the beau
tiful orange.colored, blue-spotted gold
fish and the sardine of the tropics,
while the seal, sea lion and whale sport
near by, strange association of the
Inhabitants Of the warm tropical wa
ter5 and those of the cold arctic seas to
be found in few places in the world; in
fact, Professor q. II. Orcutt, the nat
uralist, says that San Diego probably
stands first on the list in the number
Of recorded forms of marine life.
The great Jew fish, or black sea bass,
is very gamy fish and OF immense
size; six feet or more in length they
weigh from one to seven hundred
pounds, and great sport may be en-
joyed in catching them, as it often
takes several hours to land large one
after hooking it. July and August are
the best times TO catch this fish. An
other gamy fish is the yellowtail, also
called the amber fish. They weigh
from ten to eighty pounds, and fight
with great spirit. They are very nu-
merous in the summer, schools CON
tanning thousands being common
sight. Barracouta are considered the
most deliciously favored OF all the
California fish. 1t resem bles the pick
erel and is about three feet in length
The Spanish mackerel is beautiful
fiah of many shades Of color. 1t diff
fers materially from the fish of the
same name in the waters of the Allan
tic ocean. 1t will average about two
feet in length and weighs from eight TO
twelve pounds. The shovel, the bottle
nosed, the leopard, and the oil shark
are often seen here, and the hamm ar
head shark is very common. A short
time ago a basking shark was caught
which was esti mated to weigh over
four tons, and which measured thirty
two feet in length. From its liver was
taken 1870 gallons OF oil, it's skin
weighed 1900 pounds and its fins were
six to eight feet long. These sharks
derive their name from their habit of
lying on the surface of the sea basking
in the sun. They are not man eaters.
The sunfish is another of the big fish
of these waters. One was caught, after
a hard fight, which weighed 1900
pounds. This was the largest fish of
its kind ever captured. They are USE
less except for the oil taken from their
livers, which is good for bruises and
sprains.