Thejirst 

 day s walk. 



Tracks in 

 the sand. 



CHAPTEK X 

 WINGED LIFE 



The desert's secrets of life and growth and 

 death are not to be read at a glance. The first 

 day's walk is usually a disappointment. You 

 see little more than a desolate waste. The 

 light of the blue sky, the subtle color of the air, 

 the roll of the valleys, the heave of the moun- 

 tains do not reveal themselves at once. The 

 vegetation you think looks like a thin covering 

 of dry sticks. And as for the animals, the birds 

 — the living things on the desert — they are not 

 apparent at all. 



But the casual stroll does not bring you to 

 the end of the desert's resources. Yon may 

 perhaps walk for a whole day and see not a beast 

 or a bird of any description. Yet they are here. 

 Even in the lava-beds where not even cactus 

 will grow, and where to all appearance there is 

 no life whatever, you may see tracks in the sand 

 where quail and road-runners and linnets have 

 been running about in search of food. There 

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