The first edition of this book is dated 1855. The edition used is dated 1860. The publisher was Darton and Co., London. The number of pages is 332.

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General information

The story starts in the city of St. Louis, towards the end of the summer of some year in the nineteenth century. Reid collects together a group of six men who would pay to take part in an expedition, camping and hunting, into the prairies. They take with them a couple of paid men, professionals who would give them very necessary guidance. They all make a pact that they would each tell a round of tales around the camp fire, such stories to be amusing and instructive.

Reid himself is something of a naturalist, as we can learn from his many other books. We are given these tales just as they are told, in good English if told by an educated man, and in the dialect of the less educated ones. This latter arrangement makes the checking of the OCR transcriptions a little difficult, but never mind.

What people may find a little tedious is Reid’s habit of giving the naturalists’ Latin names for the various animals and plants described.

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Contents

Chapter I.
A Hunting Party.

Chapter II.
The Camp and Camp-Fire.

Chapter III.
Besançon’s adventure in the swamps.

Chapter IV.
The Passenger Pigeons.

Chapter V.
Hunt with a Howitzer.

Chapter VI.
Killing a Cougar.

Chapter VII.
The Cougar.

Chapter VIII.
Old Ike’s Adventure.

Chapter IX.
The Musquash.

Chapter X.
A Rat-Hunt.

Chapter XI.
Musquitoes and their Antidote.

Chapter XII.
The ’Coon, and his Habits.

Chapter XIII.
A ’Coon Chase.

Chapter XIV.
Wild Hogs of the Woods.

Chapter XV.
Treed by Peccaries.

Chapter XVI.
A Duck-Shooting Adventure.

Chapter XVII.
Hunting the Vicuña.

Chapter XVIII.
A Chacu of Vicuñas.

Chapter XIX.
Squirrel Shooting.

Chapter XX.
Treeing a Bear.

Chapter XXI.
The Black Bear of America.

Chapter XXII.
The Trapper Trapped.

Chapter XXIII.
The American Deer.

Chapter XXIV.
Deer Hunt in a “Dug-Out.“

Chapter XXV.
Old Ike and the Grizzly.

Chapter XXVI.
A Battle with Grizzly Bears.

Chapter XXVII.
The Swans of America.

Chapter XXVIII.
Hunting the Moose.

Chapter XXIX.
The Prairie Wolf and Wolf-Killer.

Chapter XXX.
Hunting the Tapir.

Chapter XXXI.
The Buffaloes at last.

Chapter XXXII.
The Bison.

Chapter XXXIII.
Trailing the Buffalo.

Chapter XXXIV.
Approaching the Buffalo.

Chapter XXXV.
Unexpected Guests.

Chapter XXXVI.
A Supper of Wolf-Mutton.

Chapter XXXVII.
Hare Hunting and Cricket Driving.

Chapter XXXVIII.
A Grand Battue.

Chapter XXXIX.
The Route Home.

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