70 



mating pairs of a large and handsome beetle (Cantharis magis^ 

 ter), related to the ''Spanish fly" of Europe, with black elytra 

 and red head, thorax, and legs. Yellowish tassels were just ap- 

 pearing on the twigs of the mesquites. Some of the latter 

 were huge trees, but nearly all seemed half or two-thirds 

 dead from their commensal struggle with the red-berried 

 mistletoe (Phoradendron calif or nicum). 



If possible, the day seemed thirstier than any other. After 

 hunting in vain for several miles, and nearly emptying my 

 canteen, I had to return to the base for more water from 

 the sack. Larger game failing, I collected doves, phaino- 

 peplas, flycatchers, shrikes, cottontail rabbits, and a gopher 

 snake (Ophiholus getulus subsp.), and then crawled under a 

 shady mesquite in the arroyo, and ate lunch, which consisted 

 of corn bread and jerked antelope meat. While I ate, a 

 mockingbird sat on the topmost dead bough of a neighboring 

 mesquite, and sang the sweetest song that I had ever heard. 

 The pure ecstasy of his singing must also have carried him 

 off his feet, for every few seconds he would leap joyously into 

 the air, only to dive again to his trembling perch and renew 

 the music. The noon-day mirages were wonderful past 

 expression. At times all the distant mountains seemed to be 

 half engulfed in a sea which reflected their inverted summits, 

 while the flood-plain on the near side of Hardy's Colorado 

 looked so much like water that one could have sworn it such. 



The other hunters were no more successful than I. In the 

 afternoon we worked together, but saw nothing to reward our 

 search except some fairly fresh tracks. We reached the Tres 

 Pozos at sunset. Our mounts each drank about fifteen gallons 

 of the alleged water, the horses, in accordance with equine 

 etiquette, preceding the Captain's mule. 



Packing the entire outfit on the morning of April 12 took 

 a long time, so that it was half-past seven o'clock when we 

 reached the Tres Pozos. The surface was covered with froth, 

 the result of some sort of fermentation. We watered our 

 animals, and filled our sacks and canteens (for the last time 

 with that fluid, I thought rejoicingly). The Captain gave me 

 Colonel Cantu's permit, and we parted, he and Rockwell up 



