116 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



timber. The most striking trees were the occa- 

 sional pecuhar flat-top pines, and there were 

 also other and very beautiful pines through 

 which the wind sang mournfully; and there 

 were many flowers. In one place we saw a 

 small prairie deer, and in galloping we had to 

 keep a lookout for armadillo burrows, just as 

 we keep a lookout for prairie-dog holes in the 

 West. The birds were strange and interesting, 

 some of them with beautiful voices. Out on 

 the plains were screamers, noisy birds, as big 

 as African bustards. One sparrow sang loudly, 

 at midday, round the corrals where we dis- 

 mounted for lunch. He was a confiding, pretty 

 little fellow, with head markings somewhat like 

 those of our white-crowned and white-throated 

 sparrows. He sang better than the former, 

 and not as well as the latter. 



The horses were good, and we thoroughly 

 enjoyed our afternoon canter back to the home 

 ranch, when the shadows had begun to lengthen. 

 We loped across the rolhng grass-land and by 

 the groves of strange trees, through the brilliant 

 weather. Under us the horses thrilled with life; 

 it was a country of vast horizons; we felt the 

 promise of the future of the land across which 

 we rode. 



