ese
deserts. A new lease of life may be gained by the nerve-racked man or
woman who will lay aside all home worries and spend a few months at some
congenial home on one or another of these deserts.

[Illustration: Gila monsters]

Among the animal life found on the desert are the wildcat, coyote,
rabbit, deer, rat, tortoise, scorpion, centipede, tarantula, Gila
monster, chuck-walla, desert rattlesnake, side-winder, humming-bird,
eagle, quail, and road-runner. Wild horses and wild donkeys, or
"burros," frequent these great wastes, cropping the vegetation that
grows on the oases.

One of the most interesting of these animals is the desert-rat, whose
habits, seemingly intelligent and equally curious, enable him to
maintain a home amid surroundings most unfavorable to his survival. He
is a big, active fellow of a glossy gray color, and since he always
leaves something in place of whatever he may carry off, he is often
called the trade rat. Night-time is his "busy day."

The house that he builds for himself is a veritable fortified castle
built in up-to-date desert-rat style, under a protecting bush or rock,
or beside a cactus--preferably a prickly pear. This stronghold, from
four to five feet long and three feet high, is made of sticks interwoven
with pieces of prickly cactus, thorny twigs, and odd bits in
general--great care being taken to have most of the thorns project
outward. His private quarters consist of a shallow hole burrowed under
the centre of this thorn-woven pile. Access to the interior is gained by
a winding passage.

The only enemy that might try to thread the mazy hallway is the rattler,
who by an ingenious device is deterred from even making the attempt. To
keep his snakeship from intruding on domestic privacy Mr. Rat takes
several strips of spiny cactus and lays them flatways across the
passageway leading to his retreat.

It is well known that a rattlesnake will not crawl over a prickly
substance; hence a traveller when camping out at night in rattlesnake
regions often surrounds his sleeping place with a horsehair rope as a
safeguard against such an unwelcome intruder. Even the hungry, prowling
coyote, who would make short work of the rat could he but get at him,
fights shy of lacerating his paws by attempting to tear down the
formidable pile.

The desert-rat has a morbid desire to carry to his home any small
article which he may chance to find lying around, as many a desert miner
has found to hi