THE O0LO(;iST. 



117 



found. Hero in security thoy raised six 

 young, wliile 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 

 Bage brush and greasewood on tiio edge 

 of a dirt" watching some sparrows (either 

 (Spizdla (Urigularix or Arnphispiza bil- 

 inaitc) that were feeding near by. My 

 only weapon was a pea shooter or sling 

 shot, but my strong point is patience, 

 so I had groat 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 foot 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- 

 gray owl rose and sailing slowly across 

 the canon lit on a dead oak limb. Here 

 the other l)ird soon joined the one and 

 I had a Hue 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 lloor was Hush with the 

 surface of the ledge. It hail evidently 

 been the 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 considei's these rather 

 small for this species, so it might have 

 been a second set. The small number 

 of eggs would also seem to indicate 

 this. 



SuHice it to say for the other two sets 

 consisting of two and three eggs and 

 taken on May 25th anti 20th rospecUively 

 that they came from more open nests; 

 that is better and more strongly built of 

 twigs, leaves, ('orn stalks, etc., etc.. and 

 placed on smaller antl 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 wore saved only to meet a 

 violent death at the hands of an over- 

 enthusiastic "young oologist." As long 

 as he confines his depredations to ray 

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

 comes to playing ball with the eggs of 

 Ilubo viryiniduua pa rijiims— that don't 

 go. 



The birds themselves are not at all 

 scarce and may bo heard "hooting" in 

 almost any dark canon during the 

 breeding season. And there is another 

 point— all three of my dates :ire 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 twolfth of the month. 

 Il nuiy 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. 

 1 took sets of Bullock's Oriole on July 

 1st. incubation slight; and on July 28, 

 'i)l>, 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 

 Hushed a pair of old birds and three 

 young. The day was cloudv and they 



