ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 59 



rather agreeable. The soil was poor and sandy, and the strag- 

 gling blades of grass which found their way to the surface were 

 brown and withered. Here was a poor prospect for our horses ; 

 a sad contrast indeed to the rich and luxuriant prairies we had 

 left. On the edges of the little streams, however, we found some 

 tolerable pasture, and we frequently stopped during the day to 

 bait our poor animals in these pleasant places. 



We observed here, several species of small marmots, (^Arcto- 

 mys,) which burrowed in the sand, and were constantly skipping 

 about the ground in front of our party. The short rattlesnake of 

 the prairies was also abundant, and no doubt derived its chief 

 subsistence from foraging among its playful little neighbors. 

 Shortly before we halted this evening, being a considerable dis- 

 tance in advance of the caravan, I observed a dead gopher, {Di- 

 plostoma,) — a small animal about the size of a rat, with large ex- 

 ternal cheek pouches, — lying upon the ground ; and near it a full 

 grown rattlesnake, also dead. The gopher was yet warm and 

 pliant, and had evidently been killed but a few minutes pre- 

 viously; the snake also gave evidence of very recent death, by a 

 muscular twitching of the tail, which occurs in most serpents, soon 

 after life is extinct. It was a matter of interest to me to ascer- 

 tain the mode by which these animals were deprived of life. I 

 therefore dismounted from my horse, and examined them care- 

 fully, but could perceive nothing to furnish even a clue. Neither 

 of them had any external or perceptible wound. The snake 

 had doubtless killed the quadruped, but what had killed the 

 snake? Their being no wound upon its body was sufficient 

 proof that the gopher had not used his teeth, and in no other 

 way could he cause death. 



I was unable to solve the problem to my satisfaction, so I 

 pocketed the animal to prepare its skin, and rode on to the 

 camp. 



The birds thus far have been very abundant. There is a con- 



