68 



The condition of the pools with reference to the river was not a 

 usual one. A late rise in the river had flooded them after the 

 spring freshets had subsided, and kept open the communication, 

 with the river much longer than would otherwise have been, 

 thus helping the large fishes to escape from them after spawning, 

 and doubtless carrying away hosts of the smaller organisms which 

 had appeared in the pools. All have very muddy bottoms. In most, 

 this mud was nearly knee kee|), and made seining very difficult 

 and disagreeable. In some places deposits of mud were of such 

 recent origin and were so loose that it was unsafe to venture into 

 them. Aquatic vegetation was almost wholly lacking. A scant 

 growth of filamentous algae was occasionally seen, but in nothing 

 like the quantities in which it occurs in ordinary stagnant or 

 quiet water. In Lily Lake alone there was a rank growth of 

 aquatic vegetation. Here a permanent growth of water lilies 

 {Nelumhium luteum) had become established, and to the under 

 sides of the lily pads was attached a scant growth of filament- 

 ous algse. This absence of vegetation is directly traceable to 

 the overflows, since these disturb the bottoms of the pools, dis- 

 placing the silt in some places, depositing fresh material in others, 

 and dislodging and carrying away the plants which become estab- 

 lished during the intervals between floods. The water was not very 

 deep at this time, but of course varied with the river. It could 

 be waded in most places by the men. It was deepest in the 

 larger pools, such as Long and Broad Lakes, and here the tempera- 

 ture was tolerably constant. In the sloughs, where the water was 

 shallow, it often became very warm, and daring a few days of 

 unusually high temperature became at the edge of these so hot as 

 to be scarcely bearable. 



ANIMAL LIFE.— MAMMALS AND BIEDS. 



With this sketch of the surroundings we pass to the animals 

 themselves. Of course mammals were not to be looked for on 

 land so recently covered with water, and no trace of the presence 

 of muskrats, even, was noticed. The raccoon, however, is said to 

 remain on the flooded ground at all times, resorting to the trees, 

 and probably often fasting, when surrounded by water. These ani- 

 mals were common about the sloughs, as was shown by the prints of 

 feet, and doubtless depend to some extent on the fishes and other 

 animals there crowded together. Fishes thrown upon the shore 

 were generally devoured by them before the next morning. In 

 the latter part of August they were plainly depending largely on 

 wild grapes for food. 



Birds were at no time abundant. A few kingfishers, a solitary 

 green heron, or a couple of spotted sandpipers ( Trhigoidcs ma- 

 cularius), were about all that were commonly seen during a day's 

 work. As the season advanced these became a little more abund- 

 ant from accessions of migrating birds to their numbers. At one 

 time a fiock of about forty white pelicans appeared for the greater 

 part of a day on the Missouri sand-bar opposite Wood Slough, but 



