:::::::::=»v WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY ;*::::::::: 



prefaced, in some instances, by an adjective neither 

 euphonious nor appropriate. 



The most abundant objects in the ditches were grass- 

 hoppers which tumbled down from the fields above and 

 could not escape. So here the birds found a feast con- 

 tinually renewed, where they might eat their fill from 

 morning until night. The White-rumped Shrikes knew 

 of this ample supply, but had to manoeuvre carefully 

 to keep out of sight of their rivals, the Sparrow Hawks. 

 These beautiful butcher-birds kept close to the cactus 

 tangles. Twice we saw small birds attacked and killed 

 by the shrikes, and each time, although the onslaught 

 was made among a large flock of Clay-coloured Spar- 

 rows, it was a Western Grasshopper Sparrow which was 

 the victim. Who can tell the reason for this? Did the 

 glint of gold on the wings of the little finches catch 

 the shrike's eye, or did some slight lack of skill in 

 dodoinof turn the balance of fortune ao-ainst them ? 

 If only we might take, at such moments as these, the 

 " bird's-eye- view " of the shrike, many problems of 

 evolution and the " survival of the fittest " would 

 become plain ! 



One feathered inhabitant of the cactus ditches eluded 

 identification for a long time. It was a " chunky " brown 

 bird, looking more like a big female English Sparrow 

 than anything else, but with a knack of slipping out of 

 sight just before one could focus one's glass. At last 

 we traced it to Pipilo, although it little resembled our 



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