[102] Amongst the herds of these animals, we frequently saw flocks of the cow bunting (_emberiza pecora_). The manners of this bird, in some respects, are very similar to those of the _Tanagra erythroryncha_ of Lord Stanley, in Salt's travels; flying, and alighting in considerable numbers on the backs of the bisons, which, from their submission to the pressure of numbers of them, seem to appreciate the services they render, by scratching and divesting them of vermin. This bird is here, as well as in the settlements, remarkably fearless. They will suffer us to pass very near to them, and one of them to-day, alighted repeatedly on the ground near our horses' feet: he would fly along our line, and balance himself on his wings, to gratify his curiosity, within striking distance of a whip.--JAMES. [103] This is the first notice of any of the natural features along the route since the division of the expedition two weeks previous, and two hundred and fifty miles up stream. The Great Bend of the Arkansas begins in Ford County, Kansas, and culminates in Barton County. The chord of this great arc is nearly a hundred and twenty-five miles long. Above the bend the country north of the river is flat, while to the south it is hilly, causing the deflection of the stream toward the northeast.--ED. [104] See preceding volume, note 134.--ED. [105] "Demun's Creek" is Pawnee River, flowing eastward from Finney County and emptying into the Arkansas at the present town of Larned, Pawnee County, on the west side of the Great Bend. Eight miles above its mouth is the site of Fort Larned, established in 1859.--ED. [106] Ash Creek, Pawnee County.--ED. [107] At the culmination of the bend is the mouth of Walnut Creek, which is a large stream flowing east from Lane, across Ness, Rush, and Barton counties, and reaching the Arkansas four miles below the town of Great Bend, seat of Barton County. A small tributary of Walnut Creek, called Little Walnut, debouches four miles from the Arkansas; possibly the party confused the two streams.--ED.