Generally each band or patch of ground was covered densely by flowers of the same color, making a great vivid streak across the landscape; but in places they were mixed together, red, yellow, and purple, interspersed in patches and curving bands, carpeting the prairie in a strange, bright pattern.
Finally, toward evening we reached the Nueces.

Where we struck it first the bed was dry, except in occasional deep, malarial-looking pools, but a short distance below there began to be a running current.

Great blue herons were stalking beside these 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.