5IO AUDUBON 



this night, as perchance we may reach Fort Pierre early 

 next week. 



May 2J{.} Wtdnesday. We remained on the said bar till 

 four this afternoon. The wind blew hard all day. A 

 boat from Fort Pierre containing two men passed us, 

 bound for Fort Vermilion; one of them was Mr. Charity, 

 one of the Company's associate traders. The boat was 

 somewhat of a curiosity, being built in the form of a 

 scow; but instead of being made of wood, had only a 

 frame, covered with Buffalo skins with the hair on. They 

 had been nine days coming 150 miles, detained every day, 

 more or less, by Indians. Mr. Charity gave me some 

 leather prepared for moccasins — for a consideration, of 

 course. We have seen Buffaloes, etc., but the most im- 

 portant animal to us was one of Townsend's Hare.^ We 

 shot four Meadow-larks {Stiirnella ncglccta\ that have, as 

 I said, other songs and notes than ours, but could not 

 establish them as new. We procured a Red -shafted 

 Woodpecker, two Sparrow-hawks, two Arkansas Fly- 

 catchers, a Blue Grosbeak, saw Say's Flycatcher, etc. 

 I went on shore with Harris's small double-barrelled 

 gun, and the first shot I had was pretty near killing me; 

 the cone blew off, and passed so near my ear that I was 

 stunned, and fell down as if shot, and afterwards I was 

 obliged to lie down for several minutes. I returned on 

 board, glad indeed that the accident was no greater. We 

 passed this afternoon bluffs of sulphur, almost pure to 

 look at, and a patch that has burnt for two years in suc- 

 cession. Alum was found strewn on the shores. A 

 toad was brought, supposed to be new by Harris and 

 Bell. We landed for the night on an island so thick 



^ May 24 is the date given by Audubon, B. Amer. viii., p. 338, as that on 

 which Mr. Bell shot the specimen which became type of Embcriza Le 

 Conteii, figured on plate 488. This bird is now Antmodramus (Coturni- 

 culus) lecontei ; it long remained an extreme rarity. — E. C. 



2 The common Prairie Hare, Lepus campestris, for which see a previous 

 note. — E.G. 



