PLAINS AND FOOTHILLS 191 



the faintest sign of a nest, lay her two speckled eggs, 

 which she had been brooding. She swept around above 

 the summit in immense zigzag spirals while I examined 

 her roofless dwelling-place. It was interesting to one 

 bird-lover, at least, to know that the nighthawk breeds 

 in such places. Like their eastern congeners, the 

 western nighthawks are fond of " booming." At inter- 

 vals a magpie would swing across the canon, looking 

 from side to side, the impersonation of cautious shy- 

 ness. A few rods below the crest a couple of rock 

 wrens were flitting about some large rocks, creeping 

 in and out among the crevices like gray mice, and at 

 length one of them slyly fed a well-fledged youngster. 

 This proves that these birds, like many of their con- 

 geners, are partial to a commanding lookout for a 

 nesting site. These were the only occupants of the 

 mountain's brow at the time of our visit, although in 

 one of the hollows below us the spurred and green- 

 tailed towhees were rendering a selection from Haydn's 

 " Creation, 11 probably " The heavens are telling. 11 



No water was to be found from the bottom of the 

 canon to the summit of the mountain ; all was as dry 

 as the plain itself. The feathered tenants of the dizzy 

 height were doubtless compelled to fly down into the 

 gorge for drinking and bathing purposes, and then 

 wing up again to the summit certainly no light task, 

 for such birds as the wrens and towhees. 



