THE SCAVENGERS 



follows the badger, the coyote the carrion 

 crow, and from their aerial stations the 

 buzzards watch each other. What would 

 be worth knowing is how much of their 

 neighbor's affairs the new generations 

 learn for themselves, and how much they 

 are taught of their elders. 



So wide is the range of the scavengers 

 that it is never safe to say, eyewitness to 

 the contrary, that there are few or many in 

 such a place. Where the carrion is, there 

 will the buzzards be gathered together, and 

 in three days' journey you will not sight 

 another one. The way up from Mojave to 

 Red Butte is all desertness, affording no 

 pasture and scarcely a rill of water. In a 

 year of little rain in the south, flocks and 

 herds were driven to the number of thou- 

 sands along this road to the perennial pas- 

 tures of the high ranges. It is a long, slow 

 56 



