\ 



better reason than that I was indulgent 

 enough to take their pictures now and again. 



The ardors of mid- June began to remind 

 us of the cool breezes which temper the Santa 

 Barbara shore. Bird-nesting, or at least 



Chat-nesting was still at its height, but a 

 temperature of 110 degrees in the shade is no 

 fun for a bird-nester. "Let's go home, boys!" 

 Agreed! We elected to go by the southern 

 or Ajo route, guaranteed to be real desert, 

 without respite, reprieve, or abatement. We 

 were not disappointed. Some fifty miles west 

 of Tuscon at a wayside waterhole, well fenced, 

 we found the range cattle standing about, 

 listless, or sinking down to die unprotesting. 

 They had had no ram in this section since 

 December. At Indian Oasis we saw Rufous- 

 winged Sparrows and 22 other species of birds. 

 How they managed, the Lord only knows. 

 At Ajo, a copper mining camp, we found — a 

 soda fountain! 



As we turned at Ajo to drive northward 

 and follow the line of the Southern Pacific 

 Railway tracks, we learned that the coast 

 of Southern California, including our home 

 town, was being held in the grip of a heat 

 wave the like of which had never been known. 

 It could not last, of course, but we knew what 

 we had to endure before reaching the coast. The mercury climbed steadily, 111°, 

 114°, 118°, 125° (at Mohawk). By dint of filling our helmets with cracked ice, ob- 



BRONZED COWBIRDS (Tangavius aeneus 



aeneus). NOTE DISTENDED RUFF 



OF MALE (upper figure). 



A BIT OF OLD ARIZONA 



33 



