Ranching in the Bad Lands. *3 



Woodmen and plainsmen, in their limited vocabulary, make 

 great use of the verb " pack," which means to carry, more 

 properly to carry on one's back ; and these' rats were 

 christened pack rats, on account of their curious and in- 

 veterate habit of dragging off to their holes every object 

 they can possibly move. From the hole of one, under- 

 neath the wall of a hut, I saw taken a small revolver, a 

 hunting-knife, two books, a fork, a small bag, and a tin 

 cup. The little shack mice are much more common than 

 the rats, and among them there is a wee pocket-mouse, 

 with pouches on the outside of its little cheeks. 



In the spring, when the thickets are green, the hermit 

 thrushes sing sweetly in them ; when it is moonlight, the 

 voluble, cheery notes of the thrashers or brown thrushes 

 can be heard all night long. One of our sweetest, loudest 

 songsters is the meadow-lark ; this I could hardly get used 

 to at first, for it looks exactly like the eastern meadow- 

 lark, which utters nothing but a harsh, disagreeable chat- 

 ter. But the plains air seems to give it a voice, and it will 

 perch on the top of a bush or tree and sing for hours in 

 rich, bubbling tones. Out on the prairie there are several 

 kinds of plains sparrows which sing very brightly, one of 

 them hovering in the air all the time, like a bobolink. 

 Sometimes in the early morning, when crossing the open, 

 grassy plateaus, I have heard the prince of them all, the 

 Missouri skylark. The skylark sings on the wing, soaring 

 over head and mounting in spiral curves until it can hardly 

 be seen, while its bright, tender strains never cease for a 

 moment. I have sat on my horse and listened to one sing- 

 ing for a quarter of an hour at a time without stopping. 



