474 Expedition to the 



deer, badgers,* hares,f prairie wolves, eagles, buzzards,} 

 ravens, and owls: these, with its rare and interesting plants, 

 in some measure relieved the uniformity of its cheerless 

 scenery. We found a constant source of amusement in 

 observing the unsightly figure, the cumbrous gait, and im- 

 politic movements of the bisonj we were often delighted by 

 the beauty and fleetness of the antelope, and the social com- 

 fort and neatness of the prairie dog. 



This barren and ungenial district appeared, at that time, 

 to be filled with greater numbers of animals than its meagre 

 productions are sufficient to support. It was, however, 

 manifest that the bisons, then thronging in such numbers, 

 were moving towards the south. Experience may have 

 taught them to repair at certain seasons to the more luxu- 

 riant plains of Arkansa and Red river. What should ever 

 prompt them to return to the inhospitable deserts of the 

 Platte, it is not, perhaps, easy to conjecture. In whatever 

 direction they move, their parasites and dependants fail not 

 to follow. Large herds are invariably attended by gangs of 

 meagre, famine-pinched wolves, and flights of obscene and 

 ravenous birds. 



We have frequently remarked broad shallow excavations 

 in the soil, of the diameter of from five to eight feet, and 

 greatest depth from six inches to eighteen. These are of 

 rare occurrence near the Missouri, as far as Engineer Can- 

 tonment, and in other districts where the bison is seldom 

 seen at the present day; and when they do exist there, they 

 are overgrown by grass and nearly obliterated. As you ap- 

 proach the country, still the constant residence of these ani- 

 mals, the excavations become more numerous, and are less 

 productive of grass. They now are so numerous as to be of 

 constant recurrence, offering a considerable impediment to 



* Meles labrndoricus. 



t Leims variabilis? possibly it may prove to be L. glacialis of Leach. 



} Vulturaura. 



