190 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



rise to the surface when they have seized their 

 prey; it is eaten where it is caught, below the 

 surface of the water, during the continued flight 

 of the bird through that element. The shores 

 of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, the islands of 

 the southern oceans, and parts of the coast of 

 Australia are the homes of the penguin. 



Late in the succeeding winter I made appli- 

 cation to the college authorities for a leave of 

 absence to visit Arizona. My reasons for going 

 to this point were twofold. One was personal, 

 the other was a wish to see a country whose bird 

 life presented combinations of desert and moun- 

 tain fauna. It was the desert particularly that 

 attracted me. I travelled west, passing through 

 southern Kansas and southeastern Colorado, 

 southward through the mountains of New Mexico, 

 entering the desert shortly after leaving Deming. 



The country presented a novel aspect, but 

 the picture of a desert that my imagination had 

 painted was not at all like this reality. Aridity 

 was the salient and prevailing character, but the 

 long, unbroken stretches of sand, the waste, which 

 I had imagined as having much the aspect of a 

 desolate sea, was not here. 



Instead, a vast, flat plain, whose horizon was 

 bounded by abrupt mountain chains, extended 

 on every side. Distributed over the surface 

 were sparse growths of isolated trees, miniature 



