A smoke, supposed to be that of an Indian encampment, was seen rising from a part of the mountains, at a great distance towards the north-west. It had been our constant practice, since we left the Missouri, to have sentinels stationed about all our encampments, and whenever we were not on the march by day, and until nine o'clock in the evening; it was the duty of one of the three Frenchmen to reconnoitre at a distance from camp, in every direction, and to report immediately when any thing {226} should be discovered indicating that Indians were in the vicinity. Precautions of this kind are necessary to prevent surprisal, and invariably are practised by the Indians of the west, both at their villages and on their march. On the 14th, Lieutenant Swift returned to camp, having performed the duties on which he was sent. A base was measured near the camp, and observations taken for ascertaining the elevation of the peak. Complete sets of observations for latitude and longitude were taken, which gave 38° 18′ 19″ north, and 105° 39′ 44″ west from Greenwich, or 28° 39′ 45″ from Washington, as the position of our camp. The bearing of the Peak from this point is north 67° west, and the distance about twenty-five miles.[11] In all the prairie-dog villages we had passed small owls had been observed moving briskly about, but they had hitherto eluded all our attempts to take them. One was here caught, and on examination, found to be the species denominated coquimbo, or burrowing owl, (strix cunicularia.) This fellow-citizen of the prairie-dog, unlike its grave and recluse congeners, is of a social disposition, and does not retire from the light of the sun, but endures the strongest mid-day glare of that luminary, and is in all respects a diurnal bird. It stands high upon its legs, and flies with the rapidity of the hawk. The coquimbo owl, both in Chili and St. Domingo, agreeably to the accounts of Molina and Vieillot, digs large burrows for its habitations, and for the purposes of incubation; the former author gives us to understand that the burrow penetrates the earth to a considerable depth, whilst Vieillot informs us that in St. 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.