560 The Water-fowl Family 



way from the mouth of the Colorado to the Pacific 

 side, are a common sight. It seems quite as cer- 

 tain that many of the vast army of waders and 

 ducks at the mouth of the Colorado have made 

 the entire trip of two thousand miles from San 

 Diego around Cape St. Lucas and up the shores 

 of the Gulf of California to its head. The fact 

 that most of the waders must have made the 

 trip on foot does not detract from its probability. 

 For the birds are found on both sides of the gulf 

 and all the way around the point of the peninsula 

 of Lower California, and they do not breed there. 

 Almost the whole of the way the land is perfect 

 desert, on much of which no living thing is seen, 

 or could exist without being seen, while on the 

 parts that are not desert these birds seem equally 

 unknown. At high tide they often go ashore, 

 and in some places it is so high they have 

 to ; but that is the only time they are ever known 

 far from the water's edge, while in summer not 

 one is seen even there, though the shore is lined 

 with them in winter. 



From Yuma the Colorado winds through one 

 of the most dangerous deserts of the world. But 

 for two or three miles from the river most of the 

 land is extremely fertile from its overflow, while 

 sloughs and branches extend this area much far- 

 ther in places. But the banks are robed in 

 timber that cuts off the view so much that some 



