Arizona Gardens . 225 
the slender twigs of the cat’s-claw are over- 
looked until the small sharp recurved thorns 
scratch one like the claws of an enraged cat. 
Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora velutina) and 
ironwood (Olneya tesota) are the common 
trees of the river bottoms—scraggly, thorny 
trees growing in the thickets of sarcobatus. 
In April, however, the mesquite is a very fresh 
and delightful shade of green and, with its yel- 
low blossoms, gives one impressions of spring 
worthy of our Eastern hardwoods. Itis,more- 
over, the home tree of the phainopepla and 
in a day’s ride down a creek bed you may 
come upon several of their beautiful saucer- 
shaped nests saddled in the forks of the mes- 
quite. These trees are all adapted by their 
small leaves to more sun and less water than 
are Eastern trees, and by their thorns, to 
repel the depredations of animals. The 
mesquite, however, often succumbs to the 
mistletoe by which it is grievously infested. 
Aside from the owls, the first bird to nest 
in the garden is the Gila woodpecker who 
may be seen flying to her hole in the saguaro 
late in January,where she dwells at the top of 
acolumn, if not actually upon it like Simeon- 
Stylites. Her nesting-site affords an excel- 
lent lookout from which to survey the country 
15 
