° 1914 ] Cameron, The Ferruginous Rough-leg. 163 



left their nest on July 25, when about nine weeks old. While 

 watching at this nest at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Felton 

 observed a Great Horned Owl flying along the cliff face in an east- 

 erl}^ direction. The owl passed close to the nestlings, when one 

 of the soaring hawks, presumably the female, was seen to swoop at, 

 and strike the interloper, which thereupon dived obliquely to the 

 ground. The hawk made two more dashes at the sitting owl, and 

 a short squabble ensued each time between the birds, but when 

 Mr. Felton reached the place the owl was nowhere to be seen and 

 the hawk had returned to her nestlings. As the Great Horned Owl 

 is a powerful and ferocious bird, which even attacks and eats large 

 hawks (see Fisher, 'Hawks and Owls of the United States,' p. 175), 

 it undoubtedly beat off its assailant without difficulty. 



A second eyrie was also placed in the ' Chalk Cliffs,' in a similar 

 situation, a mile to the east of the one above mentioned. This 

 nest, which was two feet high and three feet in diameter, contained 

 three eggs, one of which proved infertile. As in the case of the 

 first ejTie described, a three weeks old nestling was evicted from its 

 home on June 31, to fall fifty yards below on the steep hillside where 

 it was found and restored to its nest by Mr. Felton. Its preserver 

 had the satisfaction of witnessing the first flight of both birds on 

 July 12. They were noticed to be very much on the alert, and 

 Mr. Felton, desiring to obtain a photograph, crawled cautiously 

 from above to within five yards of the nest. As he raised his Kodak 

 both hawks took alarm, and boldly launched themselves from the 

 eyrie in the direction of the creek below. After holding a straight 

 course for about a quarter mile the fledglings seemed to lose heart; 

 they circled right and left, and, again meeting, returned together 

 to the cliff. So far their graceful flight had been marked with 

 almost adult ease; but both betrayed inexperience when trying to 

 alight and capsized awkwardly upon the ledge. Near this place 

 a curious, unused eyrie of the Ferruginous Hawk was fixed against 

 the vertical wall, to all appearance like a Cliff Swallow's nest, but 

 the heavy structure was in fact supported by an invisible ledge. 



No. 3 e;yTie was situated in the Surprise Creek brakes, and built 

 upon a conical gumbo point which terminated a knife blade ridge 

 some thirty-three yards below the bench above. From this nest 

 there was a sheer fifty feet drop in front and at both sides. It was 



