^°i8^'n Morris, Letter of Edward Harris. 2 27 



on first hearing the song of the \\''estern Meadowlark. The 

 letter gains an added charm through its frequent references to 

 Mr. Audubon and Mr. Bell — the latter being one of the party. 



I have quoted verbatim such passages as I thought might be 

 of special interest to ornithologists, and have briefly summarized 

 the remaining portions so that a fair idea of the whole may be 

 gained. 



The letter opens as follows : — - 



"Missouri River 

 May 19th 1843. 

 "My dear Doctor — 



" I wrote you a few hasty lines yesterday by Mr. Laid- 

 law — the Company's superintendent at Fort Pierre, who was on 

 his way to St. Louis with four Mackinaw boats loaded with buffalo 

 hides. I now commence a letter to be sent by the trapper from 

 Fort Pierre which we hope to reach in six or eight days. Since 

 I wrote from Indipendence the most important event that has 

 occurred has been my discovering a new Finch — a larger bird 

 than the white-crowned sparrow which it very much resembles in 

 the general markings of the body — but the head & throat are 

 black w-ith an ash-colored patch on each side of the head. On 

 looking at my diary I see I wrote to you from Bellevue — when 

 I must have mentioned this new bird, but we feared that it might 

 have proved the male of Townsend's Finch, with which it agrees in 

 measurements exactly — a female only has been procured of that 

 bird (Townsend's) but very fortunately only three days ago I 

 succeeded in shooting a female which corresponds exactly in 

 markings with the male excepting that the tints are rather lighter 

 & the black not quite so widely diffused. 



" Bell has also found a Vireo which is undoubtedly new. 

 The rare birds which we have shot are the Clay-colored bunt- 

 ing — (F. Pallida), Yellow-headed trupial (Icterus Xanthocepha- 

 lus), Lincolns' Finch — Chestnut-Collared Lark Bunting — 

 (Emberiza Ornata), — Lark Bunting — (E. Grammaca). 



" Our opportunities for shooting now that we have left that 

 part of the river where wood could be found ready cut for sale, 

 are not at all equal to our expectations; instead of stopping 

 two hours before sunset to cut for the next day, as we had been 



