As our stock of provision was nearly exhausted, permission was given, when we had arrived near a suitable place for our mid-day halt, to the hunters to go out in pursuit of bisons, and in a short time two were killed. The choice parts of these were taken and placed upon pack-horses, to be carried forward to our next encampment, where some of it might be _jerked_ on the ensuing day, which was Sunday. Aside from the vast herds of bisons which it contains, the country along the Platte is enlivened by great numbers of deer, badgers,[111] hares,[112] prairie wolves, eagles, buzzards,[113] 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 impolitic movements of the bison; we were often delighted by the beauty and fleetness of the antelope, and the social comfort and neatness of the prairie dog. [111] Meles labradoricus.—JAMES. [112] Lepus variabilis? possibly it may prove to be L. glacialis of Leach.—JAMES. [113] Vultur aura.—JAMES. This barren and ungenial district appeared, at this 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 luxuriant 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 {161} 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.