CACTUS DESERT BIRD-LIFE 249 



again. Both birds nested commonly in the dense growth on 

 the mesa ; the Mourning Doves in the cholla, the White- 

 winged in the palo verde, and the soft cooing of the former 

 and vigorous, cookeree, cookeree, coo-ree-coo, cook-coo, ree- 

 coo, cook-coo, ree-coo were among the commonest bird notes 

 about our camp. 



As we lay rolled in our blankets, in the early morning, 

 Gambel 's Partridges crowed from the near-by bushes or 

 chattered conversationally, as with nodding crests they ran 

 gracefully about us. Cardinals and Canon Wrens whistled, 

 Cactus Wrens scolded and, occasionally there was an out- 

 burst of Thrasher or Mockingbird music. 



Less welcome neighbors were the little striped skunks 

 which at night frolicked about the camp and rummaged 

 among our provisions, without our daring to resent their fa- 

 miliarity. 



The Gila monster was also an inhabitant of the canon ; 

 the artist brought one to our camp in his umbrella, but it 

 refused to partake of our hospitality and escaped during the 

 night. 



One evening, when the canon was in shadow and the sun 

 still illumined the mountain tops, a coyote, following the 

 wind, ran up the bed of the stream, almost reaching me 

 before he seemed aware of my presence. Then he leaped 

 lightly up the steep slope. Twice he paused and whined 

 anxiously, then bounded behind a rock and disappeared ; a 

 pitiful, gaunt, worn, seemingly homeless creature. 



The making of this cactus desert group called for un- 

 limited skill and patience on the part of the preparateur. 

 Every joint of cactus it contains is a facsimile reproduction 

 of the original, and is made from a mould. 



Before making casts of each section of an Opuntia or of 

 the small Cereus appearing at the left of the group and the 

 larger barrel cactus (Echino cactus) at the right, it was nec- 

 essary to remove carefully, one at a time, every one of the 

 hundreds of spines with which they are covered. After the 



