62 



THE OOLOGIST 



rope, but just before getting to the en- 

 trance of the crevice she turned and 

 went up and stopped in plain sight 

 only about six inches in. 



As there were no eggs here, I mov- 

 ed on up the cliff to see if I could see 

 into another place but could not; the 

 crack was at least a mile long, from 

 the way it started, and guess the nest 

 was clear at the back end; so moved 

 on to another. Had a little better luck 

 here, and may be able to get a set 

 here sometime. 



Oh yes, there are lots of Swifts 

 here at this place and also lots of 

 cliffs and cracks and I guess that 

 most of them are deej) and also crook- 

 ed. 



On May 18, 1913, we went again to 

 the cliffs. We started from my 

 ranch at 4 a. m., and 7 a. m. found us 

 standing on the brow of the cliff look- 

 ing down and wondering what the next 

 few hours had in store for us in the 

 way of Swifts' eggs and nests. The 

 rope was placed and I started down 

 with my egg grabber, stiff wire and 

 egg basket, all belted to me. The roi)e 

 was 28.5 feet long and they would not 

 reach clear down. 



Down about fifty feet I came to a 

 horizontal crack about four feet long, 

 and by flashing the light into it with 

 a small mirror, could locate three 

 nests, one quite near: the other two 

 farther back. But the crevice was so 

 narrow that I could not use even my 

 smallest egg grabber, so hooked a wire 

 around the nearest nest and began to 

 tear it loose. It came moving around 

 on its axis only to prove empty. Tried 

 the farthest one the same way and 

 with the hold on the rope, distance, 

 and everything, managed to drive my 

 wire hook too firmly into the nest, and 

 the mischief was done. Over and 

 apart it came exposing three fresh 

 eggs; did not save even one; two 

 broke on rolling out of the nest, and 



the other went right on rolling ofT 

 the edge, and broke some 150 feet 

 down the cliff. 



Xest number three contained one 

 egg which I broke with the grabber 

 on account of the wire being too heavy 

 and striking the egg crosswise. I 

 would rathrer handle Hummer's eggs 

 than Swifts'. 



On down thirty feet to another hor- 

 izontal crack, where one week before 

 I had seen one fresh egg in a nest, 

 quite close to the edge; this nest con- 

 tained four. After packing nest, eggs 

 and all, tried for nets number two in 

 this crevice. Could not work my grab- 

 ber as the Swifts made three or four 

 turns in getting to the nest; so 

 scratched out accumulated droppings 

 and found the crevice to be about 

 three inches deep. Worked my hand 

 into it but found that I could not 

 reach the nest, so went up to a small 

 foothold and had Dixon tie and lower 

 the short section of ladder opposite 

 the crack; but the overhung swung 

 me out three or four feet too far, so I 

 had a time to get back where I could 

 just touch the edge of the crack. After 

 some strenuous minutes, succeeded in 

 getting back into the corner so I 

 could reach into the nest. Here I 

 found a Swift, which had crawled back 

 into the crack after Dixon had given 

 her a load of shot. In my efforts to 

 get to the nest I dislodged a small 

 falke of rock which slightly damaged 

 two of the eggs of a set of four, which 

 were very nicely marked. Was down 

 at another crevice when I heard some 

 squeaks and went back up to find the 

 wounded female, still alive but that 

 was all. Packed her with her eggs 

 and left the nest. 



Looked at several other nests, from 

 which we obtained a set of two eggs, 

 an incomplete set, but one week be- 

 fore this nest had one egg in it so I 

 think it was abandoned. Succeeded 



