White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-10-29

tice unless seen before they reach
shelter.
When concealment becomes impossi-
BILE they are up and off like flash,
and so swift and graceful are their
movements that they appear to float
across the plain like yellowish gray
streak. On the Magdalena plains the
cowboys ride down and lasso coyotes
for sport; but they admit defeat in
attempting to catch the feet-footed
fox.
Some Large Game Animals.
Antelope, mountain sheep, mule-deer
and mountain lions are the only large
game animals on the peninsula. An
telope formerly occupied all the plains,
but are now reduced to small num-
Der in a few localities, and there APP
pears to be little hope of saving them
from early determination. Deer are
still to be found in many localities and
with the mountain lion will outlast
other large game in that region.
The first mountain sheep discovered
in America we're those recorded in the
early writings of the Spanish mission
aries from Lower California. There
are numerous species of mountain
sheep in the Old and New worlds, and
most of them have their homes about
high and desolate mountain crests ris-
ing above the coniferous forests at
timber line, where they live amid Arc
tic and semi-Arctic conditions.
Among the mountain sheep Of Low
err California these common conditions
of life are reversed and they occupy
the low desert ranges parallel to the
Gulf coast from sea-level up to 1000
or 5000 feet altitude, always below the
lower limit of the coniferous forests
which adorn the upper levels of the
high mountains in the northern part
of the peninsula.
Here the summer temperatures are
commonly much more than 100 degrees
Fahrenheit in the shade, and the arid
mountain slopes have a scanty growth
of cactuses, yuccas and other strictly
desert plants. These sheep commonly
go to water when available in the hot,
dry summers, but are able to exist for
considerable periods, even in hot
weather, on the moisture obtained
from the more fleshy cactus plants, the
tender flowers and flower stalks of
agaves and yuccas, and from other
water-storing desert plants.
In addition to the mammals already
mentioned wild cats, badgers, spotted
skunks, raccoons, coyotes and other
kind of fox make their homes on des-
ert areas of Lower California. The
spotted skunk, or hydrophobia skunk,
as it is commonly called, is most abun-
dant in the extreme southern end of
the peninsula, where it is looked up
on with fear and adherence owing
to it's habit of biting people in
the face while they are sleeping
ON the ground and the reputed COM
monty resulting death of it's victims
by rabies. The fear of these skunks
extends throughout the peninsula.
Doves and California valley quail are
numerous the entire length of the pen
insula, their presence always indi-
eating the vicinity Of permanent water.
Often while camping near desert wa
ter hole, hunters have watched birds
come and 20 unafraid Of man. Even
quail stand quietly and after drinking
preen their plumage or move carelessly
about, uttering little subdued call
notes to one another.
Plenty Of Small Birds.
Hawks, woodpeckers, jays, ravens,
mocking-birds, cactus wrens, and 9TH
er small birds enliven the desert and
are abundant about some of the culti-
waited oasis. A desert thrasher is
abundant in the yucca forests and in
early morning and evening he charms
his human neighbors with eXquisitely
musical notes.
On some of the islands Of the Lower
California coast breed many cormo-
rants. Whenever corlnorant, alarmed
by the approach of a hunter, flies
away, gulls swoop down on exposed
eggs and eat them at once; or, If the
hunter is too near, each gull transfiXes
an egg on it's beak and flies away,
draining the contents as it flies. 1t is
common for gulls to alight on nests
and calmly pick up young cormorants
weighing five or six ounces and swal-
low them entirely, the helpless victims
being swallowed head foremost, their
feet waving despairingly from the
gulls' widely-spread beaks.
In the San Pedro Martir mountains
may be found the California condor, a
huge bird, sometimes measuring near
ly II feet across its Outspread wings.
These birds are so large that when
perched on a dead tree, the turkey
buzzards near them look like pygmes.
The natives formerly cut off the large
hollow bases Of the quill feathers Of
these gigantic birds and, fitting them
with shoppers. used them for carrying