:*; TWO BIRD-LOVERS IN MEXICO ;*:: 



erect, surmounting a tiny face like that of some little 

 gnome of the woods. Mouth and nose are pointed, 

 eyes large and lustrous, glowing round and deep in 

 tlie pale light. But Avhat the gorgeous train of 

 feathers is to the peacock, its tail is to the Ring- 

 tailed Cat. The creature stands half crouching, listen- 

 ing to all the night sounds, when suddenly its tail 

 appears, — no bare opossum-like affair, nor even like 

 the more fluffy appendage of a raccoon, but a great 

 filmy mass, ringed white and black, curling and furling 

 gracefully over and around the little animal. Now the 

 hairs lie close and the tail narrows, again it expands 

 and fluffs out larger in diameter than the entire body 

 of the little cat. 



Here the Ring-tailed Cat, or Sassariscus, — for he 

 seems to have no generally accepted common name, — 

 comes and goes, taking bits of meat to his family 

 somewhere up among the rocky cliffs. He is a full- 

 grown animal and yet his tiny face has a wistful, almost 

 infantile exj^ression. How interesting must be the baby 

 Ringtails ! But the innocent expression of these little 

 fellows is only skin deep. Great is the havoc they work 

 among the sleeping doves and other birds which roost 

 near by. They are somewhat like the raccoons, but are 

 much more active and cat-like. Among the branches 

 they are at home and can run up a tree-trunk like a 

 squirrel. A strange habit is that, like the Iguanas, 

 they sometimes leap from high limbs, crashing down 



- «$ 220 -^ 



