gic ae 
The mounds made by the gophers or sand rats were more dim 
' dant than we) ie and in several places a number of. these 
~ mounds had made so close together that the distinctness of 
each was iiipleiels lost in the mass, covering an area of five or. 
«six feet 
| Our réad was: full of plovers, (charadicus bpatehcieitbain) they 
would run along before us with great rapidity; then stop until we 
approached quite close, when they would run off again. Thus they _ 
kept travelling before us all day, We shot several of them, and 
1 preserved some of their skins, more as a memento of the prairies 
than as a curiosity, for thes® birds are very abundant in the Uni-. 
ted States, from Canada to the gulf of Mexico. 
As we proceeded on our journey, we heard the confused hum of 
thousands of grasshoppers, now and then broken by the chirping of, 
the critket. — insects are found in great abundance, and obtain 
greater size than any I have seem elsewhere. I gota cricket this: 
morning that lasiaieal 1; inches in length of its body. 
e now entered on the level prairie, where nothing was to be 
seen but a wide expanse of green grass, and the sky above filled 
with cumulus clouds, the shadows of which, as they fell upon us, — 
‘added to the refreshing effects of the delightful breeze one gene- 
rally meets upon the the prairie. After travelling a long. distance 
‘over a country, the irregularities of which were. so impereeptible 
that one almost doubted theirexistence, we reached that position 
which [ took.to a the top.of the divide. .Here.lay. the half de- 
_ voured carcass of an ox that had, doubtless, succumbed to the 
» fatigues of the journey and ‘deprivation of water; for»these ani- 
mals suffer much more from want of water than the mule. Some 
turkey vultures, sailing above our heads, showed that they were not™ 
ignorant of the locality of the carrion. 
- - Ima little while after passing the ox’s carcass, we reached 110 
mile creek, which is 22 miles distant from our last night’s camp. At 
| & s creek there i is a fine grove of timber, Speen all the varie- 
- ties foundin the vicinity of Kansas river. 
About 12 0’clock we reached this creek,'and we here found the 
robin, (turdus migratorius,) the cat bird and the blue bird; and, hig® 
above us, the swallow-tailed hawk (nauclerus fuscatus) was sweep- 
ing round in graceful circles, its white head glancing in thé sun- 
light. Iasked the Indian lad to shoot it for me with his rifle; but 
he gazed upwards at the bird, and seemed so struck with the beauty — 
‘of its movements ihat he uttered not a word, but shook his head 
to signify thatthe bird -was too fair for him to kill it. I shouwld» 
think it impossible for smaller birds ever to escape this hawk, which 
unites the form and swiftness of the swallow with the boldness and 
strength of wing of the falcon. 
4 ah the banks of the stream there was alow piece of ground 
covered with the purple monarda, (monarda allophylla.) The 
4 eauly, butterflies that Ihave spoken of before, as flitting around the 
S¢ , were now sucking the sweets of these flowers. 
: 
d 
_- Before we had fairly pitched our ee youn g Mr. N oursey’ 
of Was! = city, entered our camp. He had, alone, boldly ate 
