316 KATTLESNAKES — THE PAISANO. Book II. 
parts of New Mexico, rattlesnakes are met with at every 
few hundred paces, and in our journey I have sometimes 
killed five or six in a few hours, lying in our very path. 
The danger here is, however, small, and far less than in 
the grass of the prairie. In New Mexico the ground 
between the single bushes is generally barren, so that in 
the daytime it is not easy to tread upon a snake una- 
wares. In going out. to hunt the beautiful Californian 
quails, with the curved tuft of feathers on their heads, it 
is necessary to be more cautious, when the sportsman is 
often obliged to force his way into the thorny mezquite 
bush. The flesh of this elegant little bird is excellent ; it 
is continually met with on the Gila and Colorado. The 
earth-cuckoo (Geococcyx viatieus) is also peculiar to this 
and similar localities. I often saw it running about, and 
later I shot several in other parts of the country. They 
run so swiftly that, on ground overgrown with underwood, 
it is very difficult to get them. The Mexicans call this 
bird Paisano (peasant), a corruption of Faesano (phea- 
sant). It much resembles a pheasant, especially in its 
long tail and great speed in running, but is much smaller. 
In Texas and California it is known by the name of 
" Correcamino " (road-runner). I have been repeatedly 
told that it lives chiefly on rattlesnakes. 
Leaving the Yalverde bottom behind us, and Fort 
Conrad, which is situated in this vicinity, to our side, we 
reached a spot known by the name of San Cristdval. 
This place was probably once inhabited. It is a small 
section of the valley, enclosed on the east and south by the 
acclivity of a basaltic plateau. The river runs in a westerly 
direction through a series of narrows between this plateau 
and the mountains rising above it ; and pursues its course, 
for about a hundred miles, through a rocky defile, which is 
