170 Hunting the Grisly 



white. Generally each band or patch of 

 ground was covered densely by flowers of the 

 same color, making a great vivid streak across 

 the landscape; but in places they were mixed 

 together, red, yellow, and purple, interspersed 

 in patches and curving bands, carpeting the 

 prairie in a strange, bright pattern. 



Finally toward evening we reached the 

 Nueces. Where we struck it first the bed was 

 dry, except in occasional deep, malarial-look- 

 ing pools, but a short distance below there be- 

 gan to be a running current. Great blue 

 herons were stalking beside these pools, and 

 from one we flushed a white ibis. In the woods 

 were reddish cardinal birds, much less bril- 

 liant in plumage than the true cardinals and 

 the scarlet tanagers; and yellow-headed tit- 

 mice which had already built large domed 

 nests. 



In the valley of the Nueces itself, the brush 

 grew thick. There were great groves of pe- 

 can trees, and evergreen live-oaks stood in 

 many places, long, wind-shaken tufts of gray 

 moss hanging from their limbs. Many of the 

 trees in the wet spots were of giant size, and 

 the whole landscape was semi-tropical in 

 character. High on a bluff shoulder over- 

 looking the course of the river was perched 



