A LAND OF DROUGHT 



AND DESERT 



467 



dicating an extraordinarily long flight 

 for these bees, which are unable to exist 

 where they cannot get water. 



MANY OF THE ANIMALS NEVER DRINK 

 WATER 



The bird and mammal life of all Lower 

 California is closely related to that of 

 southern California. Only a few species 

 of birds and a single land mammal, all 

 in the extreme southern end of the pen- 

 insula, appear to have originated on the 

 Mexican mainland. All the others are 

 evidently derived from well-known spe- 

 cies of southern California, though they 

 have been isolated long enough to de- 

 velop numerous geographic forms. This 

 is in strong contrast to the great differ- 

 ences shown by the flora, in which are 

 numerous strongly marked species pecu- 

 liar to this region. 



As in similar arid areas of the extreme 

 southwestern United States, the plains of 

 Lower California ordinarily abound with 

 small desert mammals, such as rabbits, 

 pocket mice, kangaroo rats, and others. 

 During long-continued dry periods vast 

 numbers of these small mammals perish 

 of starvation, owing to the failure of the 

 necessary crops of succulent and seed- 

 bearing herbage ; but after two or three 

 years of renewed rainfall and abundant 

 plant life the desert again swarms with 

 countless numbers of these small folk. 



A large number of the smaller kinds 

 of desert mammals never drink water. 

 They live and thrive on dry seeds and 

 scraps of vegetation in places where the 

 heat and aridity are excessive without 

 ever touching their lips to water, and it 

 has even been found impossible to teach 

 some of them to take water in captivity. 

 Apparently they never know thirst or the 

 delight of quenching it. 



Large desert mammals, such as rabbits 

 and deer, also obtain sufficient moisture 

 by eating the succulent parts of certain 

 plants they know how to find. 



CUNNING EOXES 



I have come repeatedly to solitary 

 water-holes, in the hottest weather, a 

 long march from any other water, and 



found the loose earth about their borders 

 undisturbed by tracks except those of 

 birds, while within a few rods were 

 tracks where wandering deer and rabbits 

 had fed day after day with absolute in- 

 difference to the proximity of water. 

 The ability to do without water on the 

 desert appears to be peculiar to rodents 

 and other herbivorous mammals, since 

 we found no signs of carnivorous species 

 far from accessible water. 



Small desert foxes, with large ears 

 and bodies not much larger than that of 

 a cat, occur on the larger plains through- 

 out the peninsula. They live in burrows 

 and when surprised away from home by 

 day are very cunning in concealing them- 

 selves. As danger approaches they skulk 

 to the nearest bush, tuft of grass, or 

 other little object breaking the surface 

 and sink down flat on the ground beside 

 it, and although they may be in plain 

 view, they are almost certain to escape 

 notice unless seen before they reach shel- 

 ter. When concealment becomes impos- 

 sible they are up and off like a flash, and 

 so swift and graceful are their move- 

 ments that they appear to float across the 

 plain like a yellowish gray streak. On 

 the Magdalena plains the cowboys ride 

 down and lasso coyotes for sport ; but 

 when I suggested their trying it on one 

 of these foxes, they laughed and replied 

 that they might as well try to catch the 

 wind. 



Antelope, mountain sheep, mule-deer, 

 and mountain lions are the only large 

 game animals on the peninsula. Ante- 

 lope formerly occupied all the plains, but 

 are now reduced to a small number in 

 a few localities, and there appears to be 

 little hope of saving them from early ex- 

 termination. Deer are still numerous in 

 many localities and with the mountain 

 lion will outlast other large game in that 

 region. 



BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAIN SHEEP 



The first mountain sheep discovered 

 in America were those recorded in the 

 early writings of the Spanish mission- 

 aries from Lower California. There are 

 numerous species of mountain sheep in 



