The Permian of Texas 2 1 1 



great droves from the hills at night to roost in the 

 trees below. On the level prairie there were many 

 antelope, also; and wild cats and coyotes were seen 

 nearly every day. I remember one day, when cross- 

 ing a low level prairie covered with bushes a couple 

 of feet in height, seeing at my left a coyote which 

 was running along in a straight line, with its nose 

 pointed toward a certain spot, like a pointer dog 

 after a prairie chicken. My interest was aroused, 

 and to increase my curiosity, I caught sight of a 

 short-tailed cat, the Canadian lynx, crawling along 

 the ground in the same direction. I knew that they 

 were both trailing some prey which each, unknown 

 to the other, had scented, and imagining that it 

 might be a calf, I shouted, as I did not want to see 

 it torn to pieces. This startled the cat, and drove 

 her off at a tangent to her trail. The coyote con- 

 tinued his course, but did not stop, for a Texas cow 

 had run to the point toward which he was traveling, 

 and stood with lowered horns, ready to repel his 

 assault; while her calf sprang up and deliberately 

 proceeded to take advantage of the situation to get 

 his dinner. 



In this region, as in the Kansas chalk beds, the 

 question of water gave us a great deal of trouble. 

 All the water in the river is that which goes by the 

 name of alkali in the West, being thoroughly im- 

 pregnated with salt and other mineral ingredients. 



