Domingo, the depth is about two feet.12

With us the owl never occurred but in the prairie-dog villages, sometimes in a small flock much scattered, and often perched on different hillocks, at a distance deceiving the eye with the appearance of [227] the prairie-dog, itself, in an erect posture. They are not shy, but readily admit the hunter within gun-shot; but on his too near approach, a part or the whole of them rise upon the wing, uttering a note very like that of the prairie-dogs, and alight at a short distance, or continue their flight beyond the view.

The burrows into which we have seen the owl descend, resembled in all respects those of the prairie-dog, leading us to suppose, either that they were common, though, perhaps not friendly occupants of the same burrow, or that the owl was the exclusive tenant of a burrow gained by right of conquest. But it is at the same time possible, that, as in Chili, the owl may excavate his own tenement.

From the remarkable coincidence of note between these two widely distinct animals, we might take occasion to remark the probability of the prairie-dog being an unintentional tutor to the young owl, did we not know that this bird utters the same sounds in the West Indies, where the prairie-dog is not known to exist.

It may be that more than a single species of diurnal owl has been confounded under the name of cunicularia, as Vieillot states his bird to be somewhat different from that of Molina; and we cannot but observe that the eggs of the bird described by the latter are spotted with yellow, whilst those of the former are immaculate.

As our specimens do not in all respects correspond with the descriptions by the above-mentioned authors, of the Coquimbo owl, we have thought proper to subjoin such particulars as seem necessary to be noted, in addition to the description already given by those authors.

The general colour is a light burnt brown spotted with white; the larger feathers five or six-banded with white, each band more or less widely interrupted by the shaft, and their immediate margins darker than the other portions of the feathers; the [228] tips of these feathers are white or whitish; the exterior primary feather is serrated, shorter than the three succeeding ones, and equal in length to the fifth; the bill is tinged with yellow on the ridges of both mandibles; the tarsi and feet distinctly granulated, the former naked behind, furnished before, near the base, with dense, short feathers, which, towards the toes, become less crowded, and assume the form of single hairs; those on the toes are absolutely setaceous and scattered; the lobes beneath the toes are large and granulated.

On the plains about our encampment, were numerous natural mounds, greatly resembling some of the artificial works so common in the central portions of the great valley of the Mississippi. About the summits of these mounds, were numerous petrifactions, which were found to be almost exclusively casts of bivalve shells approaching the genus cytherea, and usually from one half to one and an half inches in width.

On the evening of the fifteenth, finding all our stock of meat injured by too long keeping, four men were sent out on horseback to hunt. At the distance of six miles from camp, they found a solitary bison, which they killed, but concluding from its extreme leanness and the ill-savour of the flesh, that the animal was diseased, they took no part of it. On the following morning they returned, bringing nothing. We were now reduced to the necessity of feeding on our scanty allowance of a gill of parched maize per day to each man, this being the utmost that our limited stores would afford.

On the 16th of July, we moved from our encampment on Boiling-spring creek, in a south-western direction to the Arkansa. This ride of twenty-eight miles, which we finished without having once dismounted from our horses, occupied about twelve hours of a calm, sultry day, in every respect like the preceding, in which the thermometer in the shade had [229] ranged from 90 to 100°. Our route lay across a tract of low but somewhat broken sandstone, of an uncommonly slaty structure. It is fine-grained, with an argillaceous cement, and of a light gray or yellowish white colour. It contains thin beds of bituminous clay-slate; and we saw scattered on the surface some small crystals of selenite. It is traversed by numerous deep ravines, in which at this time, not a drop of water was to be found. The soil is scanty, and of incurable barrenness. The texture of the rock is so loose and porous as to unfit it for retaining any portion of the water which falls upon it in rains. A few dwarfish cedars and pines are scattered over a surface consisting of a loose dusty soil, intermixed with thin lamellar fragments of sandstone, and nearly destitute of grass or herbage of any kind. Our sufferings from thirst, heat, and fatigue, were excessive, and were aggravated by the almost unlimited extent of the prospect before us, which promised nothing but a continuation of the same dreary and disgusting scenery. Late in the afternoon we arrived at the brink of the precipice which divides the high plains from the valley of the Arkansa; this is here narrow, and so deeply sunk in the horizontal sandstone, that although there are trees of considerable size growing along the river, they do not rise to the level of the surface of the great plain, and from a little distance on either side, the valley is entirely hid. There our thirst and impatience were for some time tantalized with the view of the cool and verdant valley and copious stream of the Arkansa, while we were searching up and down for a place where we could descend the precipice.

We at length found a rugged ravine, down which we with some difficulty wound our way to the base of the cliff, where lay a beautiful level plain, having some scattered cotton-wood and willow trees, and affording good pasture for our horses. Here we encamped, and the remainder of the afternoon was [230] spent in making preparations to despatch a small party up the Arkansa to the mountains on the succeeding day.

A small doe was killed near camp, which, though extremely lean, proved an important addition to our supply of provisions.

The place where we encamped was supposed to have been near where Pike's block-house formerly stood, but we sought in vain for the traces of anything resembling the work of a white man.13

[231] CHAPTER II [IX]

A Detachment from the Exploring Party Ascend the Arkansa to the Mountains—Bell's Springs—Descent of the Arkansa—Grizzly Bear.

On the morning of the 17th Captain Bell, with Dr. James and two men, took their departure, proposing to ascend the Arkansa to the mountains. They were furnished with provisions for two days, according to the scanty allowance to which we were all reduced. The river valley was found so narrow, and so obstructed by the timber and the windings of the stream, as greatly to impede the travelling; we therefore resolved to leave it, and pursue our journey in the open plain