- "This Island, Which Has Received From The Indians The Appropriate Name Of Elalah [Elallah], Or Deer Island, Is Surrounded On The Water-Side By An Abundant Growth Of Cottonwood, Ash, And Willow, While The Interior Consists Chiefly Of Prairies Interspersed With Ponds.

These afford refuge to great numbers of geese, ducks, large swan, sandhill cranes, a few canvas-backed ducks, and

Particularly the duckinmallard, the most abundant of all. There are also great numbers of snakes resembling our garter-snakes in appearance, and like them not poisonous. Our hunters brought in three deer, a goose, some ducks, an eagle, and a tiger-cat. Such is the extreme voracity of the vultures, that they had devoured in the space of a few hours four of the deer killed this morning; and one of our men declared that they had besides dragged a large buck about thirty yards, skinned it, and broken the backbone."

The vulture here referred to is better known as the California condor, a great bird of prey which is now so nearly extinct that few specimens are ever seen, and the eggs command a great price from those who make collections of such objects. A condor killed by one of the hunters of the Lewis and Clark expedition measured nine feet and six inches from tip to tip of its wings, three feet and ten inches from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, and six inches and a half from the back of the head to the tip of the beak. Very few of the condors of the Andes are much larger than this, though one measuring eleven feet from tip to tip has been reported.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 254 of 362
Words from 77197 to 77479 of 110166