148 



THE NIDIOLOGIST 



Nesting of the Nile Goose. 



OL'R frontispiece this month presents an 

 interesting picture of the Nile or 

 Egyptian Goose, and its rema ' ible 

 habit of occasionally nesting in trees. We are 

 indebted for this illustration to Dr. Emil 

 Holub, the distinguished African explorer and 

 naturalist, who has observed the Nile Goose 

 nesting in Africa in the manner shown in the 

 illustration. The Nile Goose also nests on the 

 ground in marshes, but its arboreal habits and 

 well-known wariness lead it, in certain locali- 

 ties, to construct a nest far above the reach of 

 natural enemies. 



Nesting of the California Vul= 

 ture. 



OF all our extensive family of North 

 American avifauna, the one species in 

 which I have always been the most in- 

 terested is the California Condor, or Vulture, 

 P. californianus. Perhaps it is because there 

 is so little known of the bird; or more probably 

 a fascination attaches to the species on account 

 of its seeming to be under the ban of evolu- 

 tion and extinction, for extinction must surely 

 come sooner or later. 



Why nature has decreed such a fate to this 

 noble bird no one can even conjecture ; but 

 certain it is that her decree is being carried out 

 with alarming precision and rapidity. It is a 

 fact that only a few short decades ago this bird 

 was e(iually if not more plentiful in its own 

 chosen habitat than the Turkey Vulture. Any 

 of our observing " Old-timers " can tell of oc- 

 casions when these birds literally swarmed 

 around their sheejj and cattle camps waiting for 

 death to provide them life (and food) from 

 among the herds. 



While making a little trip through the moun- 

 tains of San Luis Obispo last year, I fell in 

 with an old-time stock raiser, one of the 

 brightest and most observing I think I ever 

 met. He could tell all about the nesting 

 habits, etc., of all the local birds ; knew the 

 comijlement of eggs they laid, etc., etc. ; of 

 course he remembered the "Big Buzzards" 

 which were especially numerous in that locality 

 back in the sixties, and although some of his 

 statements may be taken cum i^ra/io salis, I 

 think on the whole his reminiscences were 

 pretty reliable. He clearly remembered the 

 time when " they was thick as fleas on a dog's 

 back ; " in fact, so numerous that considerable 

 loss was occasioned by their depredations on 

 young lambs, which the birds would swoop 

 down upon and begin to tear to pieces, begin- 



ning by tearing out the eyes of the little de- 

 fenseless victims and ending, in a very brief 

 time, by flying off in a gorged condition, leav- 

 ing a few bones and shreds of woolly skin to 

 tell the tale. The apparently insatiable appe- 

 tite of the bird is largely accountable for their 

 diminished numbers, as they fell ready victims 

 to the poisoned carcasses and numerous snares 

 placed within their easy reach by the industri- 

 ous stockmen. Among the latter contrivances 

 for their destruction, one of the most frequently 

 employed was "penning." This consisted of 

 four-sided portable pens about six feet square 

 and five in height. These were placed in con- 

 venient localities with the carcass of a sheep or 

 goat temptingly displayed within ; the vora- 

 cious bird would soon spy the tempting morsel, 

 and settle down for a feast, but when he came 

 to rise.it was different, as the small diameter of 

 the pen absolutely prevented the full stretching 

 of his wings, and, being unable to make the up- 

 right leap of four or five feet, he was a secure 

 prisoner and an easy prey to the herder and 

 his club, when making the rounds of his traps. 

 It was strange that this bird, so conspicuously 

 wary at the present time, should in those days 

 have manifested so little of that quality, as cer- 

 tain it is that the traps would constantly claim 

 their victims practically as long as the birds 

 held out. 



In time gone by the nests of the California 

 Condor were by no means uncommon ; their 

 favorite sites, it is said, usually being natural 

 caves along low hillsides or under overhanging 

 rocks and easy of access (in this particular 

 also the instinct of the bird has developed a 

 wonderful change). The set was invariably 

 one pale greenish blue egg about 4v^3 inches 

 in measurements. The young bird, so my in- 

 formant stated, entered the world in a coat of 

 yellow down, and remained in the nest ''nearly 

 all summer." The young fellow did not, 

 however, obtain its complete growth for sev- 

 eral years, as it was readily distinguished by its 

 inferior size from among a flock of the adult 

 birds as late as the succeeding spring. Whether 

 the birds begin laying at a year old cannot of 

 course be stated, but in all probabilities, judg- 

 ing from the last statement, they do not. The 

 old birds dis])lay very little solicitude over their 

 nests until the a])pearance of the young, after 

 which they are tjuite savage, soaring at great 

 heights and then descending with a terrific 

 roar (caused by the appalling speed of feathers 

 through the air) to within a few feet of the in- 

 truder's head. Although I never heard of their 

 striking an intruder, the above habit in itself 

 would discourage a timid collector from spend- 

 ing any unnecessary time on some lofty crag 

 overhanging a bottomless gorge ; especially 



