54 



Sheep) Peak of the Cocopahs, from where the desert descended 

 again to the Colorado Delta. 



During the afternoon, Mr. Rockwell dismounted to kill a 

 rattlesnake (Crotalus {mitchelli?)) , and at our night camp, 

 near a lonesome desert corral, he posed the reptile and made 

 a plaster mold. 



On the morning of March 30, we started early from the 

 dry camp, passing Black Butte on our left before the sun was 

 high. All through the day, I hunted on either side of our 

 line of march, my black horse paying no attention even when 

 I shot right over its ears. Potting jack-rabbits and desert 

 quail from the saddle was good sport, especially as the quail 

 took wing much more freely than I had expected; but the 

 jack-rabbits proved to be infested with the revolting larvae 

 of a bot-fly (Cuterebra), so thereafter we shot no more of them 

 for food. Innumerable caterpillars (Hemileuca), of several 

 sizeS; covered the floor of the desert. The crops of the quail 

 were crammed with them. 



Buzzards, ravens, and egrets were seen as we drew towards 

 Hardy's Colorado. Lizards, too, became numerous, particu- 

 larly httle gray ''gridiron-tails" (Callisaurus) which scuttled 

 right and left with marvelous swiftness, raising their diminu- 

 tive arms clear of the ground and taking prodigious strides 

 with their long hind legs. 



Just before we reached the site of our noon camp, a male 

 vermilion flycatcher, the most flamboyant sprite among all 

 the birds that cross the southern border of the United States, 

 darted high over a clump of mesquite and poised in the air, 

 singing as if to split his throat, and puffing out his feathers 

 until he looked like a red ball on wings. 



While we were preparing lunch under some mesquites on 

 the cracked, sun-baked flood-plain of the river, an old Indian 

 appeared, and looked on without a word. It seemed to be 

 the custom of our westerners to give no recognition to lone 

 Indians, for nobody spoke to him or showed a sign of reahzing 

 his presence. He stood statuesquely for half an hour, moving 

 only enough to shift his weight from one foot to the other; 

 but when Mr. Rockwell hauled out a camera, he raised an 

 admonitory hand. 



