THE SCAVENGERS 



time for the scavengers, we saw two buz- 

 zards, five ravens, and a coyote feeding 

 on the same carrion, and only the coyote 

 seemed ashamed of the company. 



Probably we never fully credit the inter- 

 dependence of wild creatures, and their 

 cognizance of the affairs of their own kind. 

 When the five coyotes that range the Te- 

 jon from Pasteria to Tunawai planned a 

 relay race to bring down an antelope 

 strayed from the band, beside myself to 

 watch, an eagle swung down from Mt. 

 Pinos, buzzards materialized out of invis- 

 ible ether, and hawks came trooping like 

 small boys to a street fight. Rabbits sat 

 up in the chaparral and cocked their ears, 

 feeling themselves quite safe for the once 

 as the hunt swung near them. Nothing 

 happens in the deep wood that the blue 

 jays are not all agog to tell. The hawk 

 55 



