WATER TRAILS OF THE CERISO 



again. There was no knowing how far he 

 had come, but if he came again the second 

 night he found that the coyotes had left him 

 very little of his kill. 



Nobody ventures to say how infrequently 

 and at what hour the small fry visit the 

 spring. There are such numbers of them 

 that if each came once between the last of 

 spring and the first of winter rains, there 

 would still be water trails. I have seen 

 badgers drinking about the hour when the 

 light takes on the yellow tinge it has from 

 coming slantwise through the hills. They 

 find out shallow places, and are loath to wet 

 their feet. Rats and chipmunks have been 

 observed visiting the spring as late as nine 

 o'clock mornings. The larger spermophiles 

 that live near the spring and keep awake to 

 work all day, come and go at no particular 

 hour, drinking sparingly. At long inter- 

 37 



