25 ^'^® what and the why of desert country 



tures — take nibbles at the few plants I have set out and 

 refuse to leave off until I arrive shouting and waving my 

 arms a few feet from where they are. Sooner or later 

 something may have to be done to discourage this im- 

 pudent familiarity, but for the present I am getting some 

 good looks at creatures who usually don't wait to be 

 looked at. Yesterday, for instance, I saw what at first I 

 thought was a bird eating seeds from the upper branches 

 of a creosote bush. It turned out to be a ground squirrel 

 belying his name by climbing several feet above ground 

 among the slender swaying branches of the creosote to 

 eat the small fuzzy seeds. This is doubtless no addition 

 to Knowledge with a capital K. But it is an addition to my 

 knowledge and that is the next best thing. I like to inves- 

 tigate such matters for myself when I can. "What on 

 earth do they live on?" is a common question from those 

 newcomers not too egotistical to notice that creatures 

 other than those of their own kind do live here somehow. 

 Obviously "creosote seeds" is one answer so far as the 

 ground squirrel is concerned. 



