Chap. VII. 
LARKS, MAGPIES, AND DAISIES. 
303 
(the Saltish), designating the quality of its waters. Whilst 
roaming about near our camp, I was surprised by the 
chattering of a magpie in a tree : the bird was marked just 
like the European magpie, but was rather smaller. It is 
interesting how a trifle of this kind may affect the traveller, 
and transport him back to his distant home. I also met with 
a lark, whose notes somewhat reminded me of the European 
skylark. A bird's note gives indications of its genus and 
family, whichremain the same in remote countries, so that the 
bird can be recognised by a careful observer at a distance. 1 
The same must be said of the flight of birds, but in a less 
remarkable degree. I was here also surprised by the 
appearance of a little flower, which properly belongs to the 
lark and magpie, — a pretty Pellis, quite like the Pellis 
perennis, — the German daisy. The white little flowers 
had the same red colour beneath, and were also tipped with 
crimson. Here too I saw for the first time a beautiful 
woodpecker, probably Picus hadioides, which I afterwards 
often met with in the valley of the Rio Grande. 
Two roads lead hence into the valley of the Rio Grande, 
one leaving the defile of the Salado on the left, the other 
on the right. The defile itself seems to be impassable for 
man and beast. We chose the latter road, which led us 
straight towards a limestone mountain, in a pass of which 
we halted for the night, and through which we descended 
into the valley the following day, on a rough and rocky 
road, not without danger to our waggons. The limestone 
of this small group belongs probably to the cretaceous 
formation which, according to Marcou's observations, 
occupies here a narrow strip on the Rio Grande. 
1 A celebrated naturalist and ethno- 
logist remarked to me justly, that this 
fact gave a warning not to draw from 
the affinity of languages too general 
conclusions for the unity of the human 
