ese pools, and from one we flushed a white
ibis. In the woods were reddish cardinal birds, much less brilliant
in plumage than the true cardinals and the scarlet tanagers; and
yellow-headed titmice which had already built large domed nests.

In the valley of the Nueces itself, the brush grew thick. There were
great groves of pecan trees, and ever-green live-oaks stood in many
places, long, wind-shaken tufts of gray moss hanging from their limbs.
Many of the trees in the wet spots were of giant size, and the whole
landscape was semi-tropical in character. High on a bluff shoulder
overlooking the course of the river was perched the ranch house, toward
which we were bending our steps; and here we were received with the
hearty hospitality characteristic of the ranch country everywhere.

The son of the ranchman, a tall, well-built young fellow, told me at
once that there were peccaries in the neighborhood, and that he had
himself shot one but two or three days before, and volunteered to lend
us horses and pilot us to the game on the morrow, with the help of
his two dogs. The last were big black curs with, as we were assured,
"considerable hound" in them. One was at the time staying at the ranch
house, the other was four or five miles off with a Mexican goat-herder,
and it was arranged that early in the morning we should ride down to the
latter place, taking the first dog with us and procuring his companion
when we reached the goat-herder's house.

We started after breakfast, riding powerful cow-ponies, well trained to
gallop at full speed through the dense chaparral. The big black hound
slouched at our heels. We rode down the banks of the Nueces, crossing
and recrossing the stream. Here and there were long, deep pools in the
bed of the river, where rushes and lilies grew and huge mailed
garfish swam slowly just beneath the surface of the water. Once my two
companions stopped to pull a mired cow out of a slough, hauling with
ropes from their saddle horns. In places there were half-dry pools,
out of the regular current of the river, the water green and fetid. The
trees were very tall and large. The streamers of pale gray moss hung
thickly from the branches of the live-oaks, and when many trees thus
draped stood close together they bore a strangely mournful and desolate
look.

We finally found the queer little hut of the Mexican goat-herder in the
midst of a grove of giant pecans. On the walls were nailed the skins
of diffe