100 ANIMAL LIFE IN DESERTS 



On the other hand, to many desert-dwellers ex- 

 posure to the climate at midday is very rapidly 

 fatal. The Horn Expedition to Central Australia 

 observed that if the hzard Tiliqua was taken from 

 its hole and put on the sand at noon it ran a few 

 yards and rolled over dead, and similar examples 

 might be multipHed. The animals which are unable 

 to survive surface conditions at midday resort to 

 various devices in order to reach a more equable 

 temperature and humidity than is prevalent in the 

 open air. A few birds obtain all the shelter they 

 require by getting into the centre of trees and bushes. 

 Thus in the plain of Jericho the Great Grey Shrike 

 {Lanius excuhitor aucheri) and the black and white 

 Wheatear {Saxicola lugens) take refuge during the 

 heat of the day in midsummer in the bottoms of 

 bushes of Atriplex and Zizyphus (Fig. 25). At all 

 other times they are most conspicuous birds, the 

 Shrike perched on the top of a Zizyphus, and the 

 Wheatear in any unprotected position. In a similar 

 way one may observe House Sparrows {Passer 

 domesticus hiblicus) and White-cheeked Bulbuls {Pyc- 

 nonotus leucotis mesopotamice) bury themselves during 

 summer days at Basra in the dense mass of leaf- 

 bases and young shoots which spring from the 

 crown of a date-palm. 



Many small animals take refuge under stones and 

 in similar places, particularly at the seasons when 

 traces of moisture are still present. In the Great 

 Palaearctic Desert, wherever mixed stones and earth 

 occur (page 47), a large collection of small animals 

 may be obtained by turning over stones during the 



