:::::::::#. WALKS IN THE CACTUS COUNTRY ;*::::;:::: 



prefaced, in some instances, by an adjective neither 

 euphonious nor appropriate. 



The most abundant objects in the ditches were grass- 

 hoppers which tumbled down from the fields above and 

 could not escape. So here the birds found a feast con- 

 tinually renewed, where they might eat their fill from 

 morning until night. The White-rumped Shrikes knew 

 of this ample supply, but had to manoeuvre carefully 

 to keep out of sight of their rivals, the Sparrow Hawks. 

 These beautiful butcher-birds kept close to the cactus 

 tangles. Twice we saw small birds attacked and killed 

 by the shrikes, and each time, although the onslaught 

 was made among a large flock of Clay-coloured Spar- 

 rows, it was a Western Grasshopper Sparrow which Avas 

 the victim. Who can tell the reason for this? Did the 

 gclint of ofold on the wing^s of the little finches catch 

 the shrike's eye, or did some slight lack of skill in 

 dodffinsTf turn the balance of fortune ag'ainst them ? 

 If only we might take, at such moments as these, the 

 " bird's-eye-view " of the shrike, many problems of 

 evolution and the " survival of the fittest " would 

 become plain ! 



One feathered inhabitant of the cactus ditches eluded 

 identification for a long time. It was a " chunky " brown 

 bird, looking more like a big female English Sparrow 

 than anything else, but with a knack of slipping out of 

 sight just before one could focus one's glass. At last 

 we traced it to Fipilo, although it little resembled our 



4 51 ^ 



