PREFACE ix 



desert region and burden the reader with many 

 repetitions, the writer has chosen typical species 

 from among the most interesting, noticeable, 

 and predominant orders, and has thus hoped to 

 give a broad view of the life of the region under 

 consideration. 



Thanks are expressed to Mr. Robert Ander- 

 son, of the Riverside Junior College, and Mr. 

 J. C. Odell, of Occidental College, for their 

 kindly criticism; also to Mr. Wright M. Pierce, 

 Mr. Edwin Avery Field, and others for their aid 

 in furnishing many of the illustrations. 



The writer recognizes the help he has gained 

 from the reading of the technical papers of spe- 

 cialists of animal ecology, and if in certain in- 

 stances he has seemed to have drawn freely from 

 their works, it is because he desires to bring to 

 the reader the contribution they have made to- 

 ward a fuller knowledge of the life-histories of 

 the animals considered. The writings of Dr. 

 Joseph Grinnell, Dr. Harold C. Bryant, Dr. 

 Edgar Alexander Mearns, Dr. J. Van Denburgh, 

 and Mr. Frank Stephens have been specially 

 consulted. Thanks are also due to Messrs. 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons for permission to quote 



