DESERT ANIMALS 



173 



the antelope, and charm of color in all the 

 pretty rock squirrels. For myself, being some- 

 what prejudiced in favor of this drear waste 

 and its savage progeny, I may confess to hav- 

 ing watched the flowing movements of snakes, 

 their coil and rattle and strike, many times and 

 with great pleasure ; to having stretched my- 

 self for hours upon granite bowlders while fol- 

 lowing the play of indigo lizards in the sand ; 

 to having traced with surprise the slightly 

 changing skin of the horned toad produced by 

 the reflection of different colors held near him. 

 I may also confess that common as is the jack- 

 rabbit he never bursts away in speed before me 

 without being followed by my wonder at his 

 graceful mystery of motion ; that the crawl of 

 a wild cat upon game is something that arrests 

 and fascinates by its masterful skill ; and that 

 even that desert tramp, the coyote, is entitled 

 to admiration for the graceful way he can slip 

 through patches of cactus. The fault is not in 

 the subject. It is not vulgar or ugly. The 

 trouble is that we perhaps have not the prop- 

 er angle of vision. If we understood all, we 

 should admire all. 



Colors (tf 

 lizards. 



Mystery of 

 motion. 



