530 AUDUBON 



a specimen of Arvicola pennsylvanicus'^ brought to me, and 

 I was glad to find this species so very far from New York. 

 These animals in confinement eat each other up, the 

 strongest one remaining, often maimed and covered with 

 blood. This I have seen, and I was glad to have it cor- 

 roborated by Bell. We are told the Buffalo cows are 

 generally best to eat in the month of July; the young 

 bulls are, however, tough at this season. Our men have 

 just returned with the whole of the Buffalo except its 

 head ; it is a young bull, and may prove good. When 

 they reached it, it was standing, and Alexis shot at it 

 twice, to despatch it as soon as possible. It was skinned 

 and cut up in a very few minutes, and the whole of the 

 flesh was brought on board. I am now astonished at the 

 poverty of the bluffs which we pass; no more of the beau- 

 tiful limestone formations that we saw below. Instead of 

 those, we now run along banks of poor and crumbling 

 clay, dry and hard now, but after a rain soft and soapy. 

 Most of the cedars in the ravines, formerly fine and 

 thrifty, are now, generally speaking, dead and dried up. 

 Whether this may be the effect of the transitions of the 

 weather or not, I cannot pretend to assert. We have 

 seen more Wolves to-day than on any previous occasions. 

 We have made a good day's work of it also, for I dare say 

 that when we stop for the night, we shall have travelled 

 sixty miles. The water is rising somewhat, but not to 

 hurt our progress. We have seen young Gadwall Ducks, 

 and a pair of Geese that had young ones swimming out 

 of our sight. 



June 3, Saturday. Alexis went off last night at eleven 

 o'clock, walked about fifteen miles, and returned at ten 

 this morning; he brought three Prairie Dogs, or, as I 



^ Wilson's Meadow Mouse. This is the name used by Aud. and Bach. 

 Quad. N. Am. i., 1849, p. 341, pi. 45, for the Afvicola ripariits of Ord, now 

 known as Microtus riparius. But the specimen brought to Audubon can 

 only be very doubtfully referred to this species. — E. C. 



