70 STEPPE FAUNAS AND TEMPERATE 
cephalus and Eremias are very abundant, and show 
special adaptations to desert life, e.g. in coloration, in 
swiftness, in the power of burrowing, and so forth. So 
abundant are they in summer that they attract flocks 
of the demoiselle crane (Grus virgo), which feeds upon 
Fic. 10. Sage-cock. (Photo by the Biological Survey, U.S.A.) 
them. They are also greedily consumed by birds of 
prey, and even by such mammals as wolves and foxes 
and domesticated dogs. In the steppes and deserts of 
Turkestan there occurs a curious gecko (T'eratoscincus 
scincus), Which has lost the disks on the digits by which 
its allies climb, and has acquired curious fringes, which 
enable it to run over the loose sand. Among snakes 
we find the small sand-snake (Hryx jaculus), a harmless 
