a yellowish olive-coloured belly, from which last circumstance it might, perhaps, not improperly be called the yellow-bellied wood-pecker.  The other is a larger, and much more elegant bird, of a dusky brown colour, on the upper part, richly waved with black, except about the head, the belly of a reddish cast, with round black spots, a black spot on the breast, and the under-side of the wings and tail of a plain scarlet colour, though blackish above, with a crimson streak running from the angle of the mouth, a little down the neck on each side.  The third and fourth, are a small bird of the finch kind, about the size of a linnet, of a dark dusky colour, whitish below, with a black head and neck, and white bill; and a sand-piper, of the size of a small pigeon, of a dusky brown colour, and white below, except the throat and breast, with a broad white band across the wings.  There are also humming-birds, which yet seem to differ from the numerous sorts of this delicate animal already known, unless they be a mere variety of the trochilus colubris of Linnaeus.  These, perhaps, inhabit more to the southward, and spread northward as the season advances; because we saw none at first, though, near the time of our departure, the natives brought them to the ships in great numbers.

The birds which frequent the waters and the shores, are not more numerous than the others.  The quebrantahuessos, gulls, and shags, were seen off the coast, and the two last also frequent the Sound.  They are of the common sorts, the shags being our cormorant or water-crow.  We saw two sorts of wild-ducks; one black, with a white head, which were in considerable flocks, the other white, with a red bill, but of a larger size; and the greater lumme, or diver, found in our northern countries.  There were also seen, once or twice, some swans flying across the Sound to the northward, but we knew nothing of their haunts.  On the shores, besides the sand-piper, described above, we found another, about the size of a lark, which bears a great affinity to the burre, and a plover differing very little from our common sea-lark.

Fish are more plentiful in quantity than birds, though the variety is not very great; and yet, from several circumstances, it is probable, that even the variety is considerably increased at certain seasons.  The principal sorts, which we found in great numbers, are the common herring, but scarcely exceeding seven inches in length; a smaller sort, which is the same with the anchovy, or sardine, though rather larger; a white, or silver-coloured bream, and another of a gold-brown colour, with many narrow longitudinal blue stripes.  The herrings and sardines, doubtless, come in large shoals, and only at stated seasons, as is common with that sort of fish.  The bream of both sorts, may be reckoned the next to these in quantity; and the full-grown ones weighed, at least, a pound.  The other fish, which are all scarce, are a small brown kind of sculpin, such as is