bomen up 
Prairie Dog 
PR 
ant is 
peeping out. Even if one shoots them, they fall back 
into their holes, and are not easily got out. In each 
hole several live together. Often six or eight can 
be seen retiring into one hole. The prairie dog lives 
on the seeds of several kinds of grass; but his dwell- 
ing is usually found in sandy regions, where grass 
grows scantily. He is found rather plentifully on 
either side of the Rocky Mountains. He sleeps 
through the winter, and so stuffs up the opening of 
his hole in the fall with grass. One often sees dif- 
erent animals creep into these holes, especially rattle- 
snakes, which are numberless in these regions, lizards, 
turtles, and a small kind of owl (Sitryx hypogaea, Bo- 
nap). This quodlibet of animals cannot possibly con- 
stitute a friendly family; but Pike assures us that he 
has repeatedly seen a prairie dog, a horned frog and 
a turtle withdraw into the same hole. The owls and 
rattlesnakes seem to do most damage to the prairie 
dogs. 
The North Platte, which we were now ascending, 
was here better supplied with wood than below, espe- 
cially with cottonwood. We spent the night on its 
banks, in the neighborhood of an old winter camp. 
A number of cottonwood trees were lying about, which 
had been used partly for fencing, partly as fodder for 
the horses. (In winter the horses are fed with the 
bark of the tree.) 
The next morning (June 14th), we left camp in 
good humor, for the crotchety master of human crot- 
chets, I mean the weather, smiled on us; and the vi- 
