DESERT ANIMALS 



155 



fat in the land of sand and cactus. Animal 

 life is lean and gaunt ; if it sleeps at all it is with 

 one eye open ; and as for heat it cares very lit- 

 tle about it. For the first law of the desert to 

 which animal life of every kind pays allegiance 

 is the law of endurance and abstinence. After 

 that requirement is fulfilled special needs pro- 

 duce the peculiar qualities and habits of the in- 

 dividual. 



Yet there is one quality more general than 

 special since almost everything possesses it, and 

 that is ferocity fierceness. The strife is des- 

 perate ; the supply of food and moisture is 

 small, the animal is very hungry and thirsty. 

 What wonder then that there is the determi- 

 nation of the starving in all desert life ! Every- 

 thing pursues or is pursued. Every muscle is 

 strung to the highest tension. The bounding 

 deer must get away ; the swift-following wolf 

 must not let him. The gray lizard dashes for 

 a ledge of rock like a flash of light ; but the 

 bayonet bill of the road-runner must catch 

 him before he gets there. Neither can afford 

 to miss his mark. And that is perhaps the 

 reason why there is so much development in 

 special directions, so much fitness for a par- 

 ticular purpose, so much equipment for the 



Lean, 

 gaunt life. 



Fierceness 

 of the 

 animals. 



