THE LAND OF LITTLE RAIN 



The poet may have " named all the birds 

 without a gun," but not the fairy-footed, 

 ground-inhabiting, furtive, small folk of the 

 rainless regions. They are too many and 

 too swift ; how many you would not believe 

 without seeing the footprint tracings in the 

 sand. They are nearly all night workers, 

 finding the days too hot and white. In 

 mid-desert where there are no cattle, there 

 are no birds of carrion, but if you go far 

 in that direction the chances are that you 

 will find yourself shadowed by their tilted 

 wings. Nothing so large as a man can 

 move unspied upon in that country, and 

 they know well how the land deals with 

 strangers. There are hints to be had here 

 of the way in which a land forces new hab- 

 its on its dwellers. The quick increase of 

 suns at the end of spring sometimes over- 

 takes birds in their nesting and effects a 



14. 



