THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 6y 



the bank, I fired, and killed three. Previous to this, as I 

 was walking along a ravine, a White Wolf ran past within 

 fifteen or twenty paces of me, but I had only very small 

 shot, and did not care to wound where I could not kill. 

 The fellow went off at a limping gallop, and Bell after it, 

 squatting whenever the Wolf stopped to look at him ; but 

 at last the rascal lost himself in a deep ravine, and a few 

 minutes after we saw him emerge from the shrubs some 

 distance off, and go across the prairie towards the river. 

 Bell saw two others afterwards, and if ever there was a 

 country where Wolves are surpassingly abundant, it is the 

 one we now are in. Wolves are in the habit of often lying 

 down on the prairies, where they form quite a bed, work- 

 ing at bones the while. We found a nest of the Prairie 

 Lark, with four eggs. We saw Arctic Bluebirds, Say's 

 Flycatcher and Lazuli Finches. Say's Flycatcher has a 

 note almost like the common Pewee. They fly over 

 the prairies like Hawks, looking for grasshoppers, upon 

 which they pounce, and if they lose sight of them, they 

 try again at another place. We returned home to dinner, 

 and after this a discussion arose connected with the 

 Red-shafted Woodpecker. We determined to go and 

 procure one of the young, and finding that these have 

 pale-yellow shafts, instead of deep orange-red, such as the 

 old birds have, the matter was tested and settled according 

 to my statement. Harris and I went off after the doe 

 killed this morning, and killed another, but as I have now 

 skins enough, the measurements only were taken, and the 

 head cut off, which I intend drawing to-morrow. Harris 

 shot also a Grouse, and a Woodpecker that will prove a 

 Canadensis; he killed the male also, but could not find it, 

 and we found seven young Red-shafted Woodpeckers in 

 one nest. I killed a female Meadow Lark, the first seen in 

 this country by us. Provost told me (and he is a respect- 

 able man) that, during the breeding season of the Moun- 

 tain Ram, the battering of the horns is often heard as far 



