36 



THE OOLOGIST 



canyon with no results, the nests ap- 

 parently being untouched. 



In 1900 the first nest was about 

 gone, and a Barn Owl had his home in 

 a cleft of the rock behind it. The 

 other seemed to have had a few sticks 

 added to it and I was greatly surprised 

 to find that a new nest had been start- 

 ed on a projecting point of a big ledge 

 a few feet above. The birds un- 

 doubtedly changed their minds about 

 locating there, for though two more 

 trips were made to the canyon that 

 year I was sorry to find that nothing 

 more had been added to the nest. 



On the first trip in 1901 I found the 

 upper nest on the ledge, number 3, 

 completed, apparently, except for the 

 lining. Work had been done on the 

 lower nest, number 2, also, to a slight 

 degree, but two more trips failed to 

 show any further developments. 



In 1902 the old number 1 nest had 

 gone out entirely, probably during a 

 heavy rain. With the others condi- 

 tions were apparently the same as last 

 year, the nests being untouched. 



In 1903 the upper number 3 nest was 

 lined, but no eggs were in it on nay 

 first visit. The lining was encourag- 

 ing, but I made two more trips to the 

 canyon that year to find no change. 

 I find myself wondering in my notes 

 about this time if it is not getting 

 rather tiresome to make so many trips 

 for nothing and lamenting that my 

 ranch duties are so exacting that I 

 cannot take time for an extended 

 hunt for other nests that these birds 

 must be occupying. 



In 1904 I could see from below that 

 both nests had been largely rebuilt, 

 the lower especially; that now being 

 quite equal to the other in size. This 

 was very encouraging but by no njeans 

 a proof of success, for we often find 

 our nests well rebuilt and then desert- 

 ed. 



In climbing up the ledge both nests 

 were hidden by a projecting point. 



This was safely overcome and I loo'ved' 

 round the corner in time to see the 

 biggest and blackest Eagle I ever saw 

 go off the nest not five feet from me,, 

 leaving behind what was ample reward 

 for all my labor. 



The nest was finely built up and. 

 lined with grass, strips of the dry 

 inner bark fibre of the cottonwood 

 pieces of dry corn stalk and Spanish 

 bayonet leaves and contained two 

 eggs which have proved to be the larg- 

 est eggs of the species of which I 

 have been able to obtain a record 

 either in this country or abroad. 



These were, described at the time of 

 taking in The Condor, Vol. VI, page 

 166. In that paper there are one or 

 two slight inaccuracies as proved by 

 subsequent knowledge, and a slight 

 variation from the correct measure- 

 ments, the result of using calipers 

 that were too small. The correct meas- 

 urements are given below. 



The following year, 1905, there was 

 every reason to expect another set 

 from these birds, but though the nest 

 was all fixed up and "ready for eggs" 

 three trips at proper intervals were 

 unproductive of results. It began to 

 be more evident that the birds had 

 other nests somewhere around, a fact 

 I had been quite sure of since 1900, 

 when the new number 3 nest was com- 

 menced and abandoned. I was unfor- 

 tunately not able to put in the time 

 necessary for a more extended search. 

 A hunt for Eagles nests in our hills 

 is about like the proverbial search for 

 the needle in the haystack unless one 

 has some data to go by and my time 

 was too limited to devote to it. 



In 1906 my first trip to the nests 

 proved barren of results. No birds 

 were seen and the nests apparently 

 had not been touched. That was not 

 very encouraging", but as it always ap- 

 peared to be my duty to make at least 

 one more trip to the canyon if my first 



