DESERT ANIMALS 



167 



and gets fat on twigs and leaves that seem to 

 have as little nutriment about them as a tele- 

 graph-pole ; and he lies down on a bed of stones 

 as upon a bed of roses. He is as tough as 

 the goats and sheep that keep well up on the 

 high mountain ridges ; and in cleverness is per- 

 haps superior to the antelope. But oftentimes 

 he will turn around to have a last look, and 

 therein lies his undoing. In Sonora there is 

 found a dwarf deer a foolish if pretty little 

 creature and along river-beds the white-tailed 

 deer is occasionally seen ; but these deer with 

 the goats and the sheep hardly belong to the 

 desert, though living upon its confines. 



In fact, none of the far-travelling animals lives 

 right down in the desert gravel-beds continu- 

 ously. They go there at night or in the early 

 morning, but in the daytime they are usually 

 found in the neighboring hills. The rabbits, 

 rats, and squirrels, if undisturbed, will usually 

 stay upon the flat ground ; and there is also an- 

 other variety of desert life that does not wander 

 far from the sand and the rocks. I mean the 

 reptiles. They are not as a class swift in 

 flight, nor over-clever in sense, nor cunning in 

 devices. Nor have they sufficient strength to 

 grapple and fight with the larger animals. It 



Habits of 

 the desert 

 deer. 



The white- 

 tail. 



| The 

 | reptiles. 



