THE VOICE OF THE DESERT "12 



February because he is thinking about what he is es- 

 caping at home rather than of what he is coming to here. 

 True, the still warm sun and the usually bright skies make 

 a dramatic contrast with what he has left behind. In the 

 gardens of his hotel or guest ranch, flowers still bloom and 

 some of the more obstreperous birds make cheerful sounds, 

 even though they do not exactly sing at this season. The 

 more enthusiastic visitors talk about "perpetual summer" 

 and sometimes ask if we do not find the lack of seasons 

 monotonous. But this is nonsense. Winter is winter even 

 in the desert. 



At Tucson's twenty- three hundred feet it often gets 

 quite cold at night even though shade temperatures dur- 

 ing the day may rise to seventy-five or even higher. Most 

 vegetation is pausing, though few animals hibernate. This 

 is a sort of neutral time when the desert environment is 

 least characteristically itself. It is almost hke late Septem- 

 ber or early October, just after the first frost, in southern 

 Nev/ England. For those who are thinking of nothing ex- 

 cept getting away from something, rather than learning 

 to know a new world, this is all very well. But you can't 

 become acquainted with the desert itself at that time of 

 year. 



By April the desert is just beginning to come into its 

 ovvm. The air and the skies are summery without being hot; 

 the roadsides and many of the desert flats are thickly car- 

 peted with a profusion of wildflowers such as only Cali- 

 fornia can rival. The desert is smiling before it begins to 

 laugh, and October or November are much the same. But 

 June is the month for those who want to know what the 

 desert is really like. That is the time to decide once and 

 for all if it is, as for many it turns out to be, "your country." 



