NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



407 



side of the Canadian River in a grove of 

 cottonwoods about three miles long, 

 where thousands of turkej^s were in the 

 trees when the hunters arrived. This 

 party killed over 200 and only desisted 

 then because they already had far more 

 than they needed or could take care of! 

 Both the greater and the lesser prairie 

 chickens were present not only in count- 

 less numbers, but were so tame that 

 they could literally be "killed with a 

 stick." On many of the "lakes" and 

 streams waterfowl "darkened the sky" 

 as thej' came and went. Plover and 

 curlew, sandpipers, stilts and avocets 

 were hardly less abundant. Sandhill 

 and whooping cranes, swans, herons 

 and ibises were too numerous to be taken 

 account of. Among the rapacious birds 

 were bald and golden eagles, Cooper's 

 hawk, the sharp-shinned haw-k, goshawk, 

 red-shouldered, Swainson's, American 

 rough-legged, ferruginous rough-legged, 

 marsh, sparrow and red-tailed hawks, 

 the Mississippi kite, and a number of 

 owls. Among the latter the most strik- 

 ing species was the burrowing owl, that 

 characteristic dweller in abandoned 

 prairie-dog holes. Flickers of both 

 sorts, including hybrid forms, the 

 mockingbird, meadowdark, and scissor- 

 tailed flycatcher were abundant. Vul- 

 tures, both the black and the turkey, 

 fed on every carcass. Crows, jaj's and 

 ravens were everywhere. The ground- 

 loving sparrows and finches, the horned 

 larks and other plains forms swarmed 

 over the country, and here the now 

 infamous cowbird undoubtedly adopted 

 its parasitic habit of dropping its eggs 

 in the nests of other birds, in order that, 

 freed from the care of rearing a family, 

 it might accompany the bison on its 

 migrations. The reptiles included an 

 occasional alligator in the Red River or 

 the South Canadian, but the cotton 

 mouth did not go far westward. Rattle- 

 snakes of various kinds were plentiful, 

 notoriously so among the prairie-dog 

 villages. The most characteristic ser- 

 pent of this region, however, was prob- 

 ably the bullsnake {Pituophis sayi) 

 which grew to large size on the fat of the 



land. The interesting little horned 

 lizard (I'hrynoaoma cornutum) shared 

 the ground witli Ihc ccntipcdea, scor- 

 pions and taranluhw, and feasted on tlie 

 abundance of in.-^ect life, while in the 

 hillier parts of this region the collared 

 lizard (Crotnphytus c. collarii\ or 

 "mountain boomer," pursued liis way 

 in peace or basked in the sunshine on a 

 rock ledge or boulder. Bullfrogs and 

 leopard frogs vied in chorus with the 

 palustrine treefrogs, while on the dry 

 uplands the cognate toad {Bitfo c. 

 cognatus) relied for safety from its foes 

 upon the camouflage afforded by the 

 large splotches of color on its warty 

 back. Tall grasses and weeds filled the 

 river vallejs, while the uplands were 

 covered with bunchgrass and other 

 native tj^pes; j-ucca and prickly pear 

 were common, especially in the more 

 arid places. Along the streams the 

 elm with the large conspicuous bunches 

 of mistletoe among its branches com- 

 peted with the Cottonwood and willow, 

 while along the outer margins of the 

 river valleys persimmons and pecans 

 occurred in smaller numbers. The bod- 

 arke or Osage orange (Meulura pomifi ra) 

 was widely distributed and every swale 

 harbored clumps of plum bushes. Wild 

 grapes wound their rope-like stems 

 over bush and tree. In the spring the 

 uplands were a variegated patchwork 

 of prairie flowers, while later dwarf 

 roses, lupines, evening primroses, and 

 many other species too numerous to 

 mention, dotted the landscape in every 

 direction. No less than fifteen hundred 

 species of flowering plants had their 

 home in this region. 



Such in brief were the conditions in 

 Oklahoma before its settlement by the 

 whites. 



IV. THE PRESE.NT BIOTA 



But with settlement most of this was 

 changed. In the words of one of the 

 "Sooner" nature lovers, the late Krod- 

 erick S. Barde: 



The opening of Oklahoma to home- 

 stead settlement W!ia 11.S though the light- 

 nings of heaven had fallen upon its wild 



