WATER TRAILS OF THE CER1SO 



baths of the sparrows. His own ablutions 

 were performed in the clean, hopeful dust 

 of the chaparral ; and whenever he hap- 

 pened on their morning splatterings, he 

 would depress his glossy crest, slant his 

 shining tail to the level of his body, until 

 he looked most like some bright venomous 

 snake, daunting them with shrill abuse and 

 feint of battle. Then suddenly he would 

 go tilting and balancing down the gully in 

 fine disdain, only to return in a day or two 

 to make sure the foolish bodies were still 

 at it. 



Out on the Ceriso about five miles, and 

 wholly out of sight of it, near where the 

 immemorial foot trail goes up from Saline 

 Flat toward Black Mountain, is a water 

 sign worth turning out of the trail to see. 

 It is a laid circle of stones large enough 

 not to be disturbed by any ordinary hap, 



