Pie DON BULCE TUN 
Published Quarterly by the 
Pie Ne sa A UslUIB.O N SOC lL BE Ty 
2001 NORTH CLARK STREET, CHICAGO 14, ILLINOIS 
Number 67 September, 1948 
Desert and Mountain in Southern Arizona 
By MARGARET MORSE NICE 
N FEBRUARY 26 OF- THIS YEAR it 
() was my good fortune to start 
out for the West Coast, traveling on 
the Imperial on the Rock Island Rail- 
road and watching with keen interest 
the countryside through _ Illinois, 
Iowa, the Texas Panhandle and New 
Mexico. There were not many birds; 
three Buteos, a Marsh Hawk and a 
number of Crows the first day and a 
dozen White-necked Ravens the next 
were all that I identified. In Iowa 
the rich farms were eroding, while 
the Southwest showed a shocking pic- 
ture of over-grazing. New Mexico is 
fascinating country, wickedly abused. 
It was forty-one years since I had 
journeyed to the West Coast, that 
time also in February; we had taken 
the Santa Fe, much the same route as 
that I was now following. In my 
little diary I had noted in southeast- 
ern Colorado “a coyote, chipmunks, 
Barrel Cactus in the Desert jack rabbits and prairie dogs’; my 
- remembrance is of many populous 
towns of these engaging creatures. On the present trip, and also on my 
return journey in May which included one whole day through Nevada and 
another through Colorado, despite continuous watch I saw not one single 
wild mammal. The poisoners have done their work only too well. 
On all sides of Tucson rise mountains — to the west the Tucsons, to the 
north the Santa Catalinas, tc the east the Rincons, and to the south the 
Santa Ritas. The bracing air, the blue sky, the bright stars at night, all add 
to the charm of this town in the Arizona Desert. Trees and plants from 
distant lands adorn the city — eucalyptus and gums from Australia, tree 
tobacco from South America, date palms from Africa, olives from Europe, 
tamarisks, oranges and lemons from Asia. Cottonwoods and willows were 
leafing out, jasmine and violets were in bloom. 
[tI 
