102 SPOET IN NORTH AMERICA. 



where, allows no curb to its despotism, and destroys 

 wherever it goes. Ah-eady have the deer, elks, 

 and bisons disappeared from the principal States of 

 the Union. The herds of bisons which, a hmidred 

 years ago, used to pasture peacefully on the far-off 

 savannas of the Mississippi, now see their ranks 

 thinned, whilst the bones of those wliicli have been 

 slain by trappers, emigrants, and Indians, whiten the 

 soil and mark the passage of Man. Everything leads 

 us to suppose that the pigeons, forced to retire as the 

 States grow more and more populated by the over- 

 flow of Europe, will finally disappear from the con- 

 tinent ; and if the world does not come to an end 

 before the century, it is likely that the sportsmen 

 will only find the wild American passenger pigeon 

 in the cabinets of collectors. 



PEAIEIE DOGS. 



If ever there was an inoffensive creature in the 

 world, it is the little American marmot, or prairie dog 

 {SiJermophilus luclovicianus). Every one of these 

 little animals lives after his own fashion, without so 

 much as thinking ill of liis neighbour, far less of 

 circumventing him and living at his expense. The 

 prairie dog is a pattern to all other creatures. 



I often wished, during my stay in the States, to 



