May 15, 1834
Beautiful, bright morning; fog on the river. [It was] five miles from our night quarters to the mouth of the Nishnabotna. The hunters went out early after wild turkeys but did not get anything. We soon heard these birds again. At seven thirty, 54°F [12.2°C]. At eight o’clock we reached the mouth of the [Nishnabotna]. To the left [was] a high, dense forest in a beautiful wilderness. Two game animals (Cervus virginianus) stood opposite us in front of the willows. One of them was hit, [and the hunters] followed the blood but did not get it. We shot several small birds here, among them Troglodytes aedon and a swallow with a white belly (Hirundo [——]); the wilderness was inhabited by all kinds of birds—Icteria, Sylvia trichas. I shot a short-eared rabbit.
An hour farther on, we got the idea to look for honey, so we put in on the right bank. The hills here were covered [with] clumps of tall [shade?] trees, among them high sugar maples. The ground was densely covered everywhere with new green plant growth. We kindled a fire on the beach and cooked lunch. [There were] old Indian lodges in a small ravine. Picus erythrocephalus, auratus, carolinus, Columba carolinensis, Icteria viridis, Sylvia trichas, and several other beautiful species, for instance [——], were seen here; also the large yellow-bellied Muscicapa [——] was shot. The cardinal (Fringilla cardinalis) and the Baltimore (Icterus baltimori) also enlivened shady places. Along the riverbank, through the dark shadow of the high, magnificent forest trees, ran an Indian path that I followed downward [for] a distance, and [then I] shot a gray squirrel (Sciurus cinereus).
In the afternoon we sailed on and at about four o’clock passed by the Rivière de Sakojóh on the left bank. From there [it was] hardly a quarter of an hour [to] the [mouth of] Grand Nemaha [Big Nemaha] River on the right side. Everywhere in this forest [there was] an unbelievable number of caterpillars. Their color was bluish green with paired black and various small yellow spots [sic]. The whippoorwill called during broad daylight. We shot the red-eyed a flycatcher similar to gabier [sic], Muscicapa ruticilla, and the Icteria.