Ex. Doc. No, 41. 



4m 



distance above the town, but as the prospect of obtaining wood and 

 grass on the other side was not very favorable, we concluded to 

 camp directly in front of Socorro. I paid the alcalde a visit. He 

 showed me his vineyard; each vine was heaped around with a pile 



of earth between two and three 



feet high, and 



the vines trimmed 



nearly off even with the top of the hills. The alcalde gave me 

 some specimens of the lead and silver ores of the mines of that sierra 

 which is nearest to Socorro, and said that in the same vicinity there 

 are found gold, silver, copper, and lead. He also told me that 

 Don Pedro Baca, of Manzano, once worked these mines, but that 



$ 



M 



Socorro contains about 2,000 inhabitants, and is one of the largest 

 towns we have yet seen, except Santa Fe. While walking through 

 the streets I saw a party of Apache Indians quietly trading with 

 the people, and was told that since General Kearny's coming here, 

 and making a treaty with the Apaches, these Indians had behaved 



very well. 



In the evening I got a fine specimen of the red-winged flicker, 



canus,'' also a creeper, '^ Picus querulus,'' which is 

 Mexicans the carpentero, from its habit of chipping 



We are still without any information from be- 



^^ Picus M 



away at old trees. 

 JVovember 12. 



low, but determined to move on slowly. We therefore packed up all 

 our property and were very early on the road. After passing through 

 thelittle town of '' LasCanas," we encountered another hill of sand, 

 very difficult of ascent, and after we reached the top we com- 

 menced the descent through a crooked ravine that was strewed 

 with fragments of rock. On the way we saw several flocks of 

 crested quailsj they were running along with great rapidity among 



the clumps of the "kreosote plant," 



W 



procured one of them; 



ing the stomach, 



at the report of the gun only three or four rose up; they seem to 

 depend more on their fleetness of foot than swiftness of wing. 

 This bird proved to be the *' Ortix squamosa," and has been figured 

 and described in "Gould's Monograph of tbe partridges of Ameri- 

 ca." The plumage is of a soft silvery grey, the iris hazle, and the 

 crest fringed with white. The size, confour, and general character 

 greatly resemble the common quail, " O. Virginianus." On open- 



" I found it filled with grass s^eds and green in- 

 sects of the genus " hemiptera." 



We encamped about half a mile south of "Bosquecito," close by 

 some large cotton-wood trees, overgrown with bunches of misle- 

 toe, still looking green and fresh, while the foliage of the tree 

 was withered with the winters' frost. 



In the evening we saw, on the opposite side of the river, the 

 companies of Captains Burgwin and Grier, on their^ return to Ai. 

 buquerque. Lieutenant Mcllvane came o.ver the river, and from 

 I.- ^ T ,^ » .■ . ntL.- n-:„- ,„:fi, T.^ctpnnnt Wilson and two 



peopl 



snoae of toe ores inai i ooiatuieu at, ma.^^^-'~ — 

 Manzano agree with this alcalde in their statements 



