t34 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK, BAUFF. 



Nidification of the California Poor=will. 



DURING the spring of 1892, while col- 

 lecting birds in the Santa Cruz 

 Mountains, I was asked by a rancher 

 to identif}' "a little Owl." He desired to 

 know by what name ornithologists called it. 

 His description of that "queer little Owl" 

 aroused my curiosit}', so at noon I followed 

 him to the house. 



While on the way he informed me he 

 supplied it with a mouse, plenty of wheat 

 and bread, but with all these luxuries our 

 feathered friend remained unhappy. By 

 this time I had made up my mind that the 

 species was a Poor- will, and so it was. 

 Learning that he had upon several occasions 

 flushed a bird of this kind while on his way 

 over a l)arren piece of ground, I decided to 

 investigate. 



Arriving upon the point indicated I gave 

 it a careful .search, but without success. 

 Returning next day the search was re- 

 ])cated more thoroughly. This time I 

 flushed a Poor-will. 



Several days later, returning to the 

 locality and cautiously working my way 



along, stopping at every few steps to ex- 

 amine the ground ahead of me, I was finally 

 rewarded. About three feet in front sat 

 the object of my search. Bunched up as it 

 was, it seemed more like some inanimate 

 object than a bird. Indeed, my eyes had 

 ranged over that spot several times before I 

 became conscious of its presence. I was, 

 in fact, about to advance, feeling sure that 

 nothing more than the same white chalky 

 bits of rock lay ahead of me, when, as if 

 coming out of the earth, my bird appeared. 

 The friendly shadow of the Yerba Santa 

 on the white chalk harmonized perfectly 

 with the colors of our little friend. 



Her eyes were closed, though her head 

 was tilted a little off the horizontal, as if 

 watching me through the ever-so-slightly 

 divided eye-lids. 



Getting on my knees and slowly ap- 

 proaching her, she gave no sign of disturb- 

 ance, till my hand came within about 

 twelve inches, when she quickly and as 

 silently as a shadow glided away, dropping 

 to the ground a tew yards off. Here she 

 remained with outspread wings a few 

 seconds, when her mate flew toward her 

 and both disappeared in the thick brush, 



