THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 



475 



were very abundant — by the way, Harris saw one to-day. 

 We are now landed on the Missouri side of the river, and 

 taking in wood. We saw a Pigeon Hawk, found Par- 

 tridges paired, and some also in flocks. When we landed 

 during the high wind we saw a fine sugar camp belonging 

 to Indians. I was pleased to see that many of the troughs 

 they make are formed of bark, and that both ends are 

 puckered and tied so as to resemble a sort of basket or 

 canoe. They had killed many Wild Turkeys, Geese, and 

 Crows, all of which they eat. We also procured a White- 

 eyed and a Warbling Vireo, and shot a male Wild Pigeon. 

 Saw a Gopher throwing out the dirt with his fore feet 

 and not from his pouches. I was within four or five feet 

 of it. Shot a Humming-bird, saw a Mourning Warbler, 

 and Cedar-birds. 



May 7, Sunday. Fine weather, but cool. Saw several 

 Gray Squirrels and one Black. I am told by one of our 

 pilots, who has k'Ued seven or eight, that they are much 

 larger than Sciurus macrourus, that the hair is coarse, 

 that they are clumsy in their motions, and that they are 

 found from the Black Snake Hills to some distance 

 above the Council Bluffs. 



We landed to cut wood at eleven, and we went ashore. 

 Harris killed another of the new Finches, a male also; the 

 scarcity of the females goes on, proving how much earlier 

 the males sally forth on their migrations towards the 

 breeding grounds. We saw five Sand-hill Cranes, some 

 Goldfinches, Yellowshanks, Tell-tale Godwits, Solitary 

 Snipes, and the woods were filled with House Wrens 

 singing their merry songs. The place, however, was a 

 bad one, for it was a piece of bottom land that had over- 

 flowed, and was sadly muddy and sticky. At twelve the 



Journ. Philad. Acad, vii., 1837, p. 349, and then described and figured as 

 L townsendii by Aud. and Bach., Quad. N. A. i., 1849, p. 25, pi. 3. This is 

 the characteristic species of the Great Plains, where it is commonly called 

 "Jack-rabbit." — E. C. 



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