The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*)) — John Shaqi
The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))McGee, W J
History
The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))
McGee, W J
Seri Indians; Seri language; Yuman languages
The larger land animals of Seriland proper are the mountain goat in
the higher sierras, the bura (or mule-deer) and the white-tail deer on
the mid-height plains and larger alluvial fans, with the antelope on
the lower and drier expanses. Associated with these are the ubiquitous
coyote, a puma, a jaguar of much local repute which roams the higher
rocky sites, and a peccary ranging from the coast over the alluvial
fans and mid-height plains of the mainland (though it is apparently
absent from Tiburon). Of the smaller mammals the hare (or jack-rabbit)
and rabbit are most conspicuous, while a long-tail nocturnal squirrel
abounds, its burrows and tunnels penetrating the plains of finer
debris so abundantly as to render these plains, especially on Tiburon,
impassable for horses and nearly so for men. The California quail
and the small Sonoran dove are fairly common; a moderate number of
small birds haunt the more humid belts, and there is a due proportion
of Mexican eagles and hawks of two or three forms, with still more
numerous vultures. Ants abound, dominating the insect life, while wasps
and spiders, with various flies and midges, gather about the vital
colonies of the drier plains and swarm in the moister belts. Horned
toads and various lizards—bright-colored and swift, or earth-tinted
and sluggish—are fairly abundant, while black-tail rattlesnakes haunt
the more luxuriant vegetation of fog zones, permanent waters, and
cienegas. On the whole, the land fauna of Seriland is much like that
of the province in general, though the various forms of life are less
abundant than the average, since all (except the abounding squirrel)
are sought for food by the omnivorous Seri; and the distribution, even
when relatively abundant, is woefully sparse, as befits the scant and
scattered vegetal foundation for the animal life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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