* 





-522 ."-Ex. Doc. No.- 41. 



Sierra M 



idre; rnc^, being an inhabitant of chapparal or tbornj 

 -thickets, he rarely ventures beyond its borders. Although the toes 

 of this bird are disposed in opposite pairs, as in other species of his 

 family, yet the outer hind toe being reversible, and of grtat flexi- 

 bility, isj in either position, aptly applied in climbing or perch- 

 ing, as well as on the ground. Thus, he at times pitches along the 

 ground m irregular hops; and again, when the outer toe is thrown 

 forward, he runs'smoothly and with such rapidity as always to be 

 -able to elude a dog in the chapparal, without takinjr wing. He 

 feeds on coleoptera, and almost every species of insects; and near 

 the I^ueces, where the snails, "lymnaceus stagnalis," abound, it is 

 .greedily eaten'," &c. & ? ? 



I have only to add, that this bird is found throughout the Ratoa 

 pass, and some individual specimens have been seen on the Arkan- 

 s^^s river, a few rail^s to the west of Bent's fort. 



January 12.~In some of the ravines near our camp, and in the 

 caiions of the mountains, there is still to be found sufficient grass 

 for ."ffiuladas,'' not more numerous than ours. We, therefore, 

 drove our mules into the mountain, and then set ourselves to work 

 to repair the broken axletree. As we had carefully treasured the 

 pieces of wood that we found on the road, we soon obtained a 

 piece well suited to our purpose, and again we lost a whole day in 

 repairing this unfortunate breakage. 



In the evening Brown went out to hunt, and soon returned, 

 saying tnat he had killed two 'black tailed Jeer. As he was unable 

 to bring them to camp, he had thrown his coat over them to keep 

 away the wolves until he could get mules and bring them in. 



As I had had no exercise during the day, I started back with 

 rown m order to get the deer. The country over which we 

 passed was intersected by deep ravines, and some of the hill sides 

 were so steep that it was with great difficulty we forcefl our mules 

 to proceed. At length we reached the deer, andfound them un- 

 touched by the wolves. Having packed them upon our mules, we 

 returned lo camp. ' . ^ ' 



These deer were of the species called " cervus macrotis." 

 XSrown said that he had seen several mountain sheep during the 

 <lay, but they were so wild that he could not approach them. 

 Ihey are the " capra montana" of Harlen. I have found them as 

 far south as Valverde, in New Mexico. 



muil !-^? ^'^u'/[ January we again resumed our march, feeling 

 Tam.ll I'l ^^ it^ °^ ''"'• We had several difficult crossings 

 L^h.J:n\ ^^^'^[' ^° ^^»«^b,but my men did their duty bravely, 

 mencedtnt* "^^°r\^'''^ considerable warmth, the snow com- 



t^mes we ^^^ T'^ '^' '"^^ ^''"'^' ^'^PP^^^ ^"^ ^"-^''j- Three 

 diTtanc^ w'" ^^^^^^' J« ^^^^-el i" the bed of a stream fbr a long 

 d sta"ce"ofTr't ^'^'•^^bl^ge^^t« <^"t up the ice with ouf axes for a 

 v-Wh .1 I i^ or Sixty yards, and then to clear out the pieces 



mo -PPd a'. I'P '^' '''*^'™' •'"^^'•^ *^^ "^"'^^ coul^l be forced to 



whhJ.n.lIn fu^^'' '"""^ ^^"'^ "^^^ '■^^^^^ i"to the water, not- 

 witnstandmg the season, and catching the mules by their heads, 



B 



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