Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/660

644 houses of the woodpeckers are favorite retreats for the Mexican screech owl and the pygmy owl. An occasional bat, overtaken by sunlight, passes the day in one of these dark holes, and when the excavation extends through, from side to side, the cactus wren brings in its miscellaneous collection of sticks and straws and makes itself at home.

The first flowers appear when the plant reaches a height from eight to twelve feet, and at this time branches develop; usually forming a whorl a few feet below the summit. In the course of a year or two the branches assume an upright position, forming columns parallel to the main stem.

The large, waxy-white flowers are borne in the axils of the bunches of spines, at or a few inches below the summit of the trunk and branches; sometimes a half hundred crowning the summit of a single branch. They begin to bloom during the early days of May, and are not entirely gone before the middle of June. By midsummer the thick stems are loaded with ripened fruit, and the harvest time for both birds and Indians is at hand. The latter, mounted on ponies, pass from tree to tree, armed with long poles, with which they detach the fruit and bring it to the ground. The squaws gather it in baskets and carry it to their village, where it constitutes the staple article of food for the time being. The surplus is made into a preserve having the consistence of thick molasses, and is nearly as sweet. It is then packed in small ollas and put away for future use. Not always, however, is the surplus fruit put to this use, but instead is made into a rank, intoxicating drink.

The fresh fruit is not unpleasant, even to the cultivated palate, and is very unlike the slimy, mucilaginous fruits of many other species. At maturity they are fully three inches long and half as wide. In a few days the pericarp, or thick outer rind, splits at the summit into several segments, which, curling back, exposes the rich, red pulpy interior. The segments spreading in all directions appear from a distance like gayly colored petals. As they become more deflexed the central portion falls to the ground, leaving only the pericarp attached to the plant. The edible portion consists of the long, fleshy funiculi which attach the numerous small black seeds to the ovary.

Nearly a half hundred birds feed upon the rich, nutritious fruit of this plant, the list including all our thrashers, wood-peckers, finches, and pigeons. It is through the agency of these birds that the seeds become disseminated.