8 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:1— Jan., 1920 



Ruppia which bleach and turn white in the desert sun, or are 

 covered with a salty deposit. 



One does not see much animal life about the lake, except for 

 the large number of ducks and a few other birds. 



Mammals are not very abundant in the vicinity, an occasional 

 rabbit is seen; but the greatest stir among the mammals occurs 

 at night. Then the desert is thickly populated with those delight- 

 ful little creatures, the kangaroo rats, a misnomer, since they are 

 not rats and in no way suggest anything so repulsive. They are 

 cunning little brown fellows with the large round eyes characteris- 

 tic of nocturnal animals, and with large well developed hind legs 

 for jumping and much smaller weaker front ones. The tail is 

 very long, is used for balancing, and has quite a little brush to- 

 ward the end. The Small Mammal number of the National 

 Geographic (1918) has a very good plate and description of these 

 amusing little fellows. They hop about over the desert with 

 great agility and speed and are not much disconcerted by a flash- 

 light, but go on about their business of food-hunting. The last 

 night of our stay on the desert between Indio and Palm Springs, 

 my ground-cloth had on it quite a pile of peanuts which I had 

 placed there to enjoy after going to bed, but some of which I had 

 not eaten after all. Just before dawn I awakened and had the 

 satisfaction of watching them disappear one by one into a neigh- 

 boring clump of bushes where a kangaroo rat had his burrow. He 

 would come out, hop straight to the pile of peanuts near my head, 

 using his large hind legs and tail largely as a kangaroo does, then 

 getting a peanut in his mouth, would convey it to a place of safe- 

 keeping. I scattered the pile so that some lay directly in front of 

 my face. Each time he had to come nearer to me and finally, 

 his tail almost brushed my face as I lay watching my last peanut 

 disappear. When eating, the kangaroo rat has the same erect 

 position that a squirrel takes, using his front feet as hands. 



I cannot blame the desert mammals for being nocturnal ; the 

 spell of the desert is never so strong as at night ; the vast stillness 

 the extreme clearness, the tremendousness that it makes one feel 

 are very restful and soothing. The occasional distant howl of 

 the coyote or call of an owl gives just the right touch to make 

 complete the spirit of mystery that hovers over all. Then in the 

 morning when the east turns red, and the sun comes up a great 

 fiery ball, the distant mountains and hills come forth from the 



