i50 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



came in sight of an old nest of the Red-tail 

 Hawk, away up in the top of an immense 

 sycamore tree. As we came nearer we 

 could discern that it was occupied, and 

 soon the head and ears of the Great Horned 

 Owl i^eered down at us over the side of the 

 nest. We were happy. At once we set 

 about devising the best manner of getting 

 up to the nest. The tree was about five 

 feet in diameter and leaned just enough to 

 make the climb an easy one except for one 

 difficulty. Twenty-five feet up the trunk a 

 great limb two and a half feet through, put 

 out from the body, and to get around 

 this was no easy matter. However, I 

 determined to try it, and buckling on my 

 climbers commenced the ascent. It was 

 simply a walk up until this limb was 

 reached and then the tug of war com- 

 menced. By careful work and keeping the 

 spurs deep in the wood I was enabled in a 

 short time to worm my 187 lbs. around the 

 limb into the fork. The climb from here 

 up for a hundred or more feet was not diffi- 

 cult, but as the nest was approached there 

 was ten feet of work that was not calcu- 

 lated to quiet one's nerves. The nest was 

 out near the extremity of a horizontal limb, 

 not thicker than my leg and to "coon" it 

 out on this limb a hundred and fifty feet 

 from the ground was the difficulty to over- 

 come, or go down without the oval 

 beauties. There was no thought of back- 

 ing down and in a shorter time than it 

 takes to write it I reached over into the 

 nest and grasped the three eggs which it 

 contained, and then lost no time in work- 

 ing backwards to a place of safety on the 

 body of the tree. All this time both of the 

 Owls were flying about near by, snapping 

 their bills, uttering low, angry hootings 

 and protesting as best they could against 

 this robbery of their nest. Placing the 

 eggs in a mitten I took it in my teeth and 

 in less than five minutes was on the ground 

 with them all safe and sound. On blowing 

 them the next evening they were found to 

 be almost fre.sh and a good application of 



soft soap and warm water made them as 

 clean and nice a set as we have ever seen . 



A Cormorant Rookery 



A CORMORANT rookery furnishes 

 the observer with some queer sights. 

 The great, ungainly birds crane their 

 necks this way and that, uneasily and help- 

 lessly, fearing to scramble away into flight 

 lest they be robbed of their eggs or young. 

 The latter, however, are not fascinating 

 objects, being entirely naked and black as 

 a kid glove. 



The parent bird will allow the intruder 

 to approach sometimes within five feet 

 before flying, at least such was my ex- 

 perience with the Brants' and the Farallon 

 Cormorant on the Farallon Islands. 



It would seem that the innate ugliness 

 of the young Cormorant were sufficient 

 guarantee against invasion, but to make 

 their peculiar sort of defence more effective, 

 1 have seen Farallon Cormorants, when I 

 came quite near, go into contortions and 

 disgorge the contents of their gullets. 

 Whether this disgusting performance were 

 a method of defence, as I have suggested, 

 or the result of pure fright, I am not pre- 

 pared to say. 



Our illustration, showing both old and 

 young birds, is taken from a photograph of 

 a rookery on an islet near Monterej', and is 

 a characteristic picture of the summer home 

 of Brants' and the Farallon Cormorant. 

 Bairds' Cormorant does not seem to breed 

 so much in colonies, but fashions its compact 

 nest on some .slight ledge under a crag, 

 where it is often inaccessible. The nests 

 become cemented with guano, and do ser- 

 vice for more than one year. This Cor- 

 morant, on the Farallons, seems to fear 

 that its claim will be "jumped" by some 

 other bird, as it is often found in the nest 

 when no eggs are laid; and if its esrgs are 

 taken it returns to sit on the nest as if 

 nothing had happened. While one Cor- 

 morant is sitting, its mate brings it small 



