BIRDS OF THE PAPAGO SAGUARO NATIONAL MONUMENT. 13 



who fight their battles and tame their wildernesses, but, rest assured, the birds 

 are not. If the engineers and the builders who toiled for years under the desert 

 sun on the Roosevelt Dam ever want to hear really adequate praise for their 

 achievement, let them ride as we did down that road into Phoenix at sundown 

 and hear the birds' opinion of it. 



There is this to be said, however, as regards the vociferous rejoic- 

 ing of the birds anent the victory of the waters over the desert. There 

 is no question as to the greatly augmented avian population, for the 

 birds are there, conspicuous to eye and ear, and unmistakably flourish- 

 ing as one result of this taming of the wilderness. But, on second 

 thought, realization comes that these loud-voiced proclaimers of their 

 happiness are not the original dwellers of the land, exulting in their 

 improved condition and environment, but rather are they upstart 

 newcomers, " nesters " who have entirely replaced the old-time dwell- 

 ers of the open range. 



Thrashers of several species, verdin, desert sparrow, plumbeous 

 gnatcatcher, gilded flicker, and their ilk, too conservative to be con- 

 tent far from their thorny desert, have withdrawn from those sec- 

 tions where green alfalfa and cotton has replaced mesquite, cholla, 

 and creosote bush, and their places are taken by blackbirds, orioles, 

 meadowlark, and kingbird; natives of Arizona, it is true, but 

 formerly restricted to limited areas, mostly along the river beds. 



There are a few species that have, to a certain extent, been able 

 to adapt themselves to nejssr ondit5fcs. The Gila woodpecker finds 

 himself satisfied with t^ie cottonwoodjtrees which farmers plant for 

 shade or ornament. The""Cfttus wjen appears to be more adaptable 

 than I had given him credit for, certainly far more so here than he 

 has been in California, and was seen frequenting brush piles or 

 gardens, where there was cultivated ground on all sides. 



The net result of the cultivation of the valleys is, quite evidently, 

 a vastly augmented bird population as regards number of indi- 

 viduals. There is no greater number of species than before, but the 

 proportions are different. It is a replacement of one type of native 

 fauna by another, not an increased number of the original inhab- 

 itants. For the most part, birds whose whole organism is adapted 

 to existence in the hot, dry desert, amidst thorn bushes and cactus, 

 can not at once change to life amidst greenery, shade, and abundant 

 water. It is, perhaps, well for the farmer that they can not, for a 

 few desert species w r hich have tentatively sampled some of the re- 

 sults of civilization, as exemplified in vegetable gardens and fruit 

 trees, are already being complained of in some quarters. 



BIRDS OF THE GIANT CACTUS. 



To the visitor from other sections of the country, entering Arizona 

 for the first time, there is probably no feature of the unfamiliar 



