We observed this morning some traces of Indians, but none very recent. On the preceding day we had passed the site of a large encampment, where we saw several horse-pens well fenced.
Near the place where we halted to dine, a large herd of elk was seen; but unfortunately they "took the wind of us," and disappeared, giving us no opportunity to fire upon them.
Along the river bluffs we saw numerous conic mounds, resembling those of artificial formation so frequently met with near the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, but differing from them by their surface from the apex to the base being terminated by a strait or concave instead of a convex curve, which is usual in those of artificial origin. The natural mounds of which we speak appear usually to contain a nucleus of sandstone, which is sometimes laid bare at the summit or on the sides, and sometimes entirely concealed by the accumulated _débris_ resting upon it, but often contains petrified remains of marine animals.
At the end of this day's ride of twenty-six miles, we found the river valley more than a mile in width, and the distant hills or bluffs which bound it low, and of gradual ascent. The boulders, pebbles, and gravel so abundant near the base of the mountain, had been growing gradually less frequent and diminishing in size, till they had now almost entirely disappeared, their place being supplied by a fine { 247} sand intermixed with clay, which here composed the surface. The soil is still marked with a character of extreme barrenness, the islands and the immediate margin of the river bearing an inconsiderable growth of cotton-wood and willows, but the great mass of the country being almost destitute of vegetation of any kind. Hunters were sent out immediately on encamping, and returned at dark, bringing a wild cat, an old turkey, and five of her chickens.
A bird was taken, closely resembling in point of colouring a species preserved in the Philadelphia Museum, under the name of _ruby-crowned flycatcher_, said to be from the East Indies; but the bill differs in being much less dilated. We can hardly think it a new species, yet in the more common books we do not find any distinct description of it. It is certainly allied to the tyrannus griseus and sulphuratus of Vieillot; but in addition to other differential characters, it is distinguished from the former by its yellow belly, and from the latter by the simplicity of the colouring of the wing and tail feathers, and the absence of bands on the side of the head; the bill also is differently formed from that of either of those species, if we may judge from Vieillot's figures.[36]