AN OPEN SEASON 221 



nearly all life on the desert, use but little water 

 and go long periods without any. Camels have 

 developed a hump or lump in which usually 

 is stored condensed food, and an inner tank in 

 which water is stored, and these kinds of pre- 

 paredness enable him to travel for days without 

 food or water. Many kinds of desert plants 

 have some sort of a water storage tank that is 

 filled during wet times and drawn on during 

 dry periods. But of course all plants and ani- 

 mals simply have adapted themselves to condi- 

 tions, and these conditions on the desert require 

 them to get along with less water than does the 

 life elsewhere. 



The prairie dog's deep digging is one of the 

 stories that have come from dry-land life; an- 

 other story says that every day some desert birds 

 go for water one hundred miles or so, while others 

 have secret reservoirs beneath cactus to which 

 they resort each night, have a few drinks, then so 

 thoroughly camouflage the covering that only 

 on rare occasions has any one ever discovered 

 this non-leak water pocket. 



There still are too many erroneous beliefs on 

 the earth concerning wild life. The sea used to be 

 thickly covered with superstitions. Everyone 

 told Columbus it could not be done because off in 

 the West the sea was boiling; that in places it was 

 filled with men- and ship-swallowing monsters, 



