BIRDS OF THE REGION 141 



in less frequented caves and cliffs. However, the owls 

 pay nightly visits to the cave, as shown by plumy 

 feathers clinging to bushes at the entrance, and by the 

 deep toned hoo, hoo, hoo, ooo, breaking from the quiet 

 darkness of the great doorway. In the first big room of 

 the cave, owl pellets were found on the rocky shelves; 

 and far back at the brink of the Devil's Den, beyond 

 the last ray of outside light, a complete skeleton of an 

 owl was picked up on the cave floor, perhaps a tragedy 

 of utter darkness, for, wonderful as the eyes of an 

 owl are, no eye can be conceived that could render 

 vision where no light exists. 



Outside of the cave and a little way down the canyon 

 a pair of these owls had a nest in a shady niche, high 

 up on the face of the cliff. Here on April 10, a mother 

 owl was covering her two white downy young in plain 

 view from the trail, but so protected by her mottled 

 dress that when her big yellow eyes were shut she might 

 well have passed for a part of the cliff. I took her 

 picture, first from across the canyon. Then in order 

 to get a nearer view I climbed the wall to the level of 

 the nest, crawled out on a rock within six feet of it, and 

 snapped her several times with my little pocket camera 

 before she would leave her young. As usual in dark 

 corners, the snapshots were under-exposed and gave 

 only a faint trace of the picture. 



In several neighboring caves the owls were nesting 

 in high niches, well back in the gloomy twilight, safe 

 from prowling enemies and safe from man as long as 

 they would sit tight and not reveal their presence. To 

 a close observer, however, their presence was easily 



