186 FIRST APPEARANCE OF FEVER. 



have seen black game, pheasants, and snipes do, in the 

 English New Forest, for a fox or some beast of prey, my 

 habit of never speaking to or whistling to him not put 

 ting the presence of man into their heads. The little 

 spotted rail, which I killed off Charlie's back, and of 

 whom, during my journey, I could have killed many, 

 was scarcely so large as the common English water-rail, 

 but flew in the same manner ; and generally where I 

 found them, but not invariably so, there was some 

 little swampy place or water not far off. On arriving at 

 Cedar Creek, a distance of about twenty-five miles, so 

 my men computed it, we camped on Monday evening 

 on a running stream, and by the side of a covert, which 

 might have held wolves, foxes, and deer, but of the two 

 former only I saw traces. 



Here then, for the first time, I saw quantities of that 

 beautiful bird, the blue jay, of which I killed several. 

 Hawks, of which I also shot several, and owls, the same 

 horned-owls we have in England, frequently rose from 

 the prairie grass, and one or two of these I also killed. 

 The American crow, of course, was to be heard and seen at 

 break of day, but they were always very shy. The snow 

 birds, in their summer plumage, and birds very like our 

 larks, were also in plenty on the plains, and an occa 

 sional blue robin was to be seen in the woods, with 

 many spotted little woodpeckers, and other small as well 

 as larger birds, among them the lovely kingfisher. 



On reaching Cedar Creek I ordered the five grouse 

 and the rail to be dressed for camp dinner, but the brace 

 of partridges to be retained for my breakfast on the fol 

 lowing morning. The day, like the former one, had 

 been very hot, and, from my being in the sun, I began 

 to feel a feverish sensation in my mouth ; but I was not 



