:;:;"::3e OASIS AND DESERT ^fe"""- 



before us. Less than fifty yards away a company of two 

 or three hundred ducks were sunning themselves, all 

 crowded together on the bank. On a j^romontory still 

 nearer was a flock of seven or eight hundred White- 



GREEN-WINGED TEAL, CAPTIVE WILD BIRDS 



faced Glossy Ibises, many sleeping balanced on one leg, 

 others preening their feathers. Two large grebes, ^er- 

 haps the Western species, floating out near the middle 

 of the lake, completed the tale of the water-birds. 



Beyond a field of alfalfa, with its dense green foliage 

 shot with the blue floAver-heads, was a stone wall, and 

 on this two great American Ravens were busily engaged 

 in feeding upon something which they held down with 

 their feet. At first glance we thought it must be the 



^- 15 -^ 



