THE OOLOGIST. 



117 



found. Here in security they raised six 

 young, wiiile the poor owls paid for 

 their lack of foresight by the loss of a 

 fine set of three eggs. 



One afternoon in May, my note book 

 says it was the 24th, I lay among some 

 sage brush and greasewood on the edge 

 of a cliflf watching some sparrows (either 

 {Spizella alrigularis or Amphispiza bil- 

 ineate) that were feeding near by. My 

 only weapon was a pea shooter or sling 

 shot, but my strong point is patience, 

 so I had great hopes of ultimately get- 

 ting one for examination. In one of 

 my carefully calculated movements I 

 slid back too far, and suddenly found 

 myself going over the edge of the cliff. 

 I went down perhaps eight feet and "lit" 

 on a shelf about two feet wide and ten 

 feet long. Just as I took a step for- 

 ward along this ledge a huge brownish- 

 Ijray owl rose and sailing slowly across 

 the canon lit on a dead oak limb. Here 

 the other bird soon joined the one and 

 I had a fine view of a pair of the rarest 

 of our owls. 



At this juncture I "bethought me" of 

 eggs and soon found the nest in a little 

 niche or cave in the cliff. This hole 

 was some 18 inches square and fifteen 

 high, while the floor was flush with the 

 surface of the ledge. It had evidently 

 been ^he resting place of some boulder 

 in times past; now, however, it held 

 nothing but a few bones, two or three 

 skulls of some rodents, (probably gop- 

 hers) and a few twigs and bits of bark. 

 Upon or rather among this debris the 

 two pure white eggs were laid. Incu- 

 bation was of course far advanced, but 

 I succeeded in saving the set with small 

 holes. So much for patience and plenty 

 of water. I tried pancreatin, mercuric 

 chloride and caustic potash to no avail. 

 The eggs are now in my collection and 

 measure 2.12x1.75, 2.18x1.75 inches. A 

 friend of mine considers these rather 

 small for this species, so it mignt have 

 been a second set. The small number 

 of eggs would also seem to indicate 

 this. 



Suffice it to say for the other two sets 

 consisting of two and three eggs and 

 taken on May 25th and 26th respectively 

 that they came from more open nests; 

 that is better and more strongly built of 

 twigs, leaves, corn stalks, etc., etc., and 

 placed on smaller and more inaccessible 

 ledges. In all three cases the eggs were 

 more or less nest stained and all nests 

 contained bones and fur with now and 

 then a feather from some other bird, 

 probably quail or doves. Both of these 

 latter sets were saved only to meet a 

 violent death at the hands of an over- 

 enthusiastic "young oologist." As long 

 as he confines his depredations to my 

 "scrap box" I do not care, but when it 

 comes to playing ball with the eggs of 

 Bubo virginianus pacificzis—thvii don't 

 eo. 



The birds themselves are not at all 

 scarce and may be heard "hooting" in 

 almost any dark canon during the 

 breeding season. And there is another 

 point — all three of my dates are very 

 late for any sane owl to be housekeep- 

 ing. Of course the eggs of all three sets 

 were heavily incubated, but even at 

 that they must have been laid not far 

 from the tenth or twelfth of the month. 

 It may yet be proven that our owls at 

 least nest in July. Still this has been a 

 year of late dates — with me at any rate. 

 I took sets of Bullock's Oriole on July 

 1st, incubation sli{;ht; and on July 23, 

 '99, two boys brought me a set of six 

 Virginia Rails varying in incubation 

 from slight to advanced, and a set of 

 California Cuckoos, consisting of two 

 perfectly fresh eggs. These were taken 

 on the Monday previous, making the 

 date July 17th. To-day, August 2d, I 

 took two sets of Costa's Hummingbird, 

 one fresh the other slightly incubated. 



But I have turned from my owl story. 

 Only this morning my two foxhounds, 

 "El Colonel" and "Don Juan," while 

 baying through a grove of live oaks 

 flushed a pair of old birds and three 

 young. The day was cloudy and they 



