In consequence of the lateness of the season, most of the birds that breed here had already left the neighbourhood; we therefore saw only such birds as pass the winter here, and also a number of aquatic birds that were daily arriving from the north. Of the former we met with five kinds of _Icterus_; one quite black, except the shoulders, which were red; these were extremely numerous, and sleep, like the _Icterus phoenicius_, among rushes. The _Sturnus ludovicianus_ and _Picus auratus_ of the United States, are also found in California; the _Percnopterus californicus_, _Corvus mexicanus_, and _Perdix californica_, are already known. A large grey crane, probably from the north, remained here: upon the whole, the number of birds observed, amounted to forty. A few Amphibia were found concealed under stones; namely, a large _Tachydromus_, a _Tropydurus_, a _Crotalus_, a _Coluber_, and four _Salamandrides_: among the latter was one with the body covered with warts, and a narrow compressed tail, the glands of the ear wholly wanting; the others had long narrow bodies of about the thickness of a common earth-worm, with short legs, standing far apart, and toes scarcely perceptible to the naked eye. Nearly two hundred kinds of beetles were collected: with the exception of the _Lampyris corrusca Fabr._, which, according to Banks, is found on the Columbia river, all are as yet undescribed. Upon the dry ground, under stones, many Heteromerides, with distorted wing-cases, were found, and among them six new species. A large _Cychrus_ was also found, and a species closely resembling the _Manticora_, together with many other Carabides, of which we collected, in all, fifty different species.