THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 



49 



irds, 

 Dird^ 



jssing ; 

 ■ which 

 ge, and 

 rom so 

 >untry." 

 on the 

 rages of 

 n a few 

 ing. . • • 

 ) was on 

 J Yellow- 

 and the 

 notice of 

 any inter- 

 . . . The 

 ge of the 

 fury. . • • 

 e hundred 

 among the 

 exception 

 Riccarees, 

 ,ut, so that 

 destroyed 

 . . Many 

 ititig them- 

 prairie all 

 The Oros 

 Ire reduced 

 [early exter- 

 ■d to fly in 

 mts of the 

 lare already 

 1 which the 

 intelligence 

 the numher 

 je Western 



Ll. 492, now 

 1 when thus 

 iBoston, hut 

 \olius cyano- 



Ves its ne»' 



nearly allied to the Rusty Grakle, but with evidently a 

 much shorter and straighter bill. Its measurements will 

 be given, of course. The weather is still lowering and 

 cold, and it rains at intervals. We are now out of speci- 

 mens of quadrupeds to draw from. Our gentlemen seem 

 to remember the ball of last night, and I doubt not will 

 go early to bed, as I shall. 



June 21, Wednesday. Cloudy and lowering weather; 

 however. Provost went off over the river, before daylight, 

 and shot a Deer, of what kind we do not know; he re- 

 turned about noon, very hungry. The mud was dreadful 

 in the bottoms. Bell and young McKenzie went off after 

 breakfast, but brought nothing but a Sharp-tailed Grouse, 

 though McKenzlo shot two Wolves. The one Harris shot 

 last night proved to be an old female not worth keeping; 

 her companions had seamed her jaws, for in this part of 

 the world Wolves feed upon Wolves, and no mistake. 

 This evening I hauled the beast under the ramparts, cut 

 her body open, and had a stake driven quite fast through 

 it, to hold it as a bait. Harris and Bell arc this moment 

 on the lookout for the rascals. Wolves here not only eat 

 their own kind, but are the most mischievous animals in 

 the country; they eat the young Buffalo calves, the young 

 Antelopes, and the young of the Bighorn on all occa- 

 sions, besides Hares of different sorts, etc. Buffaloes 

 never scrape the snow with their feet, but with their 

 noses, notwithstanding all that has been said to the con- 

 trary, even by Mr. Catlin. Bell brought home the hind 

 parts, the head, and one forefoot of a new species of small 

 Hare.i 



We are told these Hares are very plentiful, and yet 

 this is the first specimen we have seen, and sorry am I 



^ This is no doubt the Lepus artemisia of Bachman, Joum. Philad. Acad, 

 viii,, 1839, p. 94, later described and figured by Aud. and Bach., Quad. N. 

 Am. ii., 1851, p. 272, pi. 88. It is now generally rated as a subspecies of the 

 common Cottontail, L.sylvaticus, Compare 2\%oL.nuttalli, Aud. and Bach. 

 I ii., 1851, p. 300, pi. 94. — E. C. 

 VOL. II. — 4 



