34 Our Araby 



Rabbits — jack and cottontail — are a matter of 

 course, though not so much so as in days gone by. 

 Nowadays one may tramp a whole morning in the 

 Palm Springs locality and hardly empty a barrel. 

 ^Iiither the bunnies have gone is rather a mystery. 

 Yet I do know the spot I should make for should 

 an urgent demand for cottontail-stew arise suddenly 

 Avithin me. No, I shall not name the place: that 

 is a little secret between the coyotes and me. 



Coyotes and foxes, by-the-by, as also wildcats 

 and mountain-lions, should perhaps be mentioned, 

 but the first-named two aie hardly game, while the 

 others are only possibilities of cafion camps. Deer, 

 however, are more than a possibility in some desert 

 localities, though not, of course, on the low open 

 levels. Piiion Flat, reached by the Vandeventer 

 trail, and a good day's trip from Palm Springs, is 

 quite good deer country, and, incidentally, an 

 interesting bit of territory to explore, with or with- 

 out gun or rifle. 



Two other animals that come in the "big game" 

 category may be named, though one of these, the 

 antelope, has passed into history so far as Our 

 Araby is concerned. A few antelope may linger on 

 the stretches of almost untraveled country bordering 

 on the Mexican line, but the chances are slight of 

 this fine creature being ever again reported from 

 the Colorado Desert. The other animal is the 

 mountain-sheep (bighorn) which ranges in all the 

 desert hills and cafions, but is not to be counted for 

 shooting purposes, being strictly protected by law, 



