AMONG THE ANIMALS OF THE YOSEMITE 203 



into one of these curious neotoma villages, is 

 startled at the strange sight, and may imagine 

 he is in an Indian village, and feel anxious as to 

 the reception he will get in a place so wild. At 

 first, perhaps, not a single inhabitant will be 

 seen, or at most only two or three seated on the 

 tops of their huts as at the doors, observing 

 the stranger with the mildest of mild eyes. The 

 nest in the centre of the cabin is made of grass 

 and films of bark chewed to tow, and lined with 

 feathers and the down of various seeds. The 

 thick, rough walls seem to be built for defense 

 against enemies — fox, coyote, etc. — as well as 

 for shelter, and the delicate creatures in their big, 

 rude homes, suggest tender flowers, like those of 

 Salvia carduacea, defended by thorny involucres. 

 Sometimes the home is built in the forks of 

 an oak, twenty or thirty feet from the ground, 

 and even in garrets. Among housekeepers who 

 have these bushmen as neighbors or guests they 

 are regarded as thieves, because they carry away 

 and pile together everything transportable 

 (knives, forks, tin cups, spoons, spectacles, 

 combs, nails, kindling-wood, etc., as well as 

 eatables of all sorts), to strengthen their fortifi- 

 cations or to shine among rivals. Once, far 

 back in the high Sierra, they stole my snow- 

 goggles, the lid of my teapot, and my aneroid 

 barometer ; and one stormy night, when en- 

 camped under a prostrate cedar, I was awakened 



