•]6 AUDUBON 



enough for one day, and were well fatigued. Harris and 

 Bell both shot at Wolves from the ramparts, and as these 

 things are of such common occurrence I will say no more 

 about them, unless we are in want of one of these beasts. 

 Harris and I went over to see Mr. Collins, who is much 

 better; his hunters had not returned. We found the men 

 there mostly engaged in playing cards and backgammon. 

 The large patches of rose bushes are now in full bloom, 

 and they are so full of sweet fragrance that the air is per- 

 fumed by them. The weather looks clear towards the 

 north, and I expect a fine to-morrow. Old Provost has 

 been telling me much of interest about the Beavers, once 

 so plentiful, but now very scarce. It takes about seventy 

 Beaver skins to make a pack of a hundred pounds ; in a 

 good market this pack is worth five hundred dollars, and 

 in fortunate seasons a trapper sometimes made the large 

 sum of four thousand dollars. Formerly, when Beavers 

 were abundant, companies were sent with as many as 

 thirty and forty men, each with from eight to a dozen 

 traps, and two horses. When at a propitious spot, they 

 erected a camp, and every man sought his own game ; the 

 skins alone were brought to the camp, where a certain 

 number of men always remained to stretch and dry them. 

 July 6, Thursday. The weather has been pleasant, with 

 the wind at northwest, and the prairies will dry a good 

 deal. After breakfast Harris, Bell, and McKenzie went 

 off on horseback. They saw a Red Fox of the country,^ 

 which is different from those of the States; they chased 

 it, and though it ran slowly at first, the moment it saw 

 the hunters at full gallop, it ran swiftly from them. 

 McKenzie shot with a rifle and missed it. They saw 

 fresh tracks of the small Hare, but not any of the animals 

 themselves. After dinner I worked at Mr. Culbertson's 



1 Vulpes Utah of Aud. and Bach., Quad. N. Am. iii., 1853, P- 255, pi. 151, 

 or V. macrourus of Baird, as already noted. This is the Western variety of 

 the common Red Fox, now usually called Vulpes fulvus macrourus. — E. C. 



