THE NIDIOLOGIST 



149 



w^hen having in mind the stories of its South 

 American cousin knocking animals and even 

 unfortunate human beings to instant death 

 from some giddy precipice of the Andes. 



The California Condor is a much cleaner 

 bird than is generally accredited, as one of its 

 favorite habits is to assemble on the bank of 

 some secluded mountain pool and spend hours 

 at a time in bathing and standing around the 

 margin of the clear, cold water. Hunters on 

 coming upon a far removed body of water in 

 localities frequented by the birds, often find 

 numbers of immense feathers around the edge 

 of the stream, discarded by the bird during 

 some of their fresh-water baths. 



I was informed that a lew of the birds still 

 frequented a deep, dark canyon some miles 

 back in the heart of the mountains, and re- 

 solved to make a trip this spring in quest of 

 their eggs (in fact I wrote to the editor of the 

 " NiD " at that time, of my discovery and in- 

 tentions); however, last April, the time ar- 

 ranged for my trip, I found it impossible to 

 secure the necessary "leave of absence " from 

 my business, so instead of going myself I se- 

 cured the services of that well-known and intrep- 

 id young collector, O. W. Howard, of this 

 city, and an assistant (as it would be worse 

 than useless for one man to undertake such a 

 trip). In due time I had outfitted them with a 

 two-horse spring wagon, saddles, ropes, etc., 

 etc., and provisions enough to last a month. 

 They started from Los Angeles on the morning 

 of April 12, reaching the mouth of the canyon 

 and a beautiful mountain stream on the 21st of 

 the same month, having secured some nice sets 

 of Nuttall's Woodpecker, Ferruginous Rough- 

 leg, etc., on the road. Fairly good progress up 

 the canyon was made the first and second days, 

 as they covered about thirty miles of the rocky 

 road. Here, however, they had to leave the 

 wagon behind, packing the necessaries on 

 horseback. On the afternoon of the 23d they 

 were overtaken by a terrific mountain thunder- 

 storm ; no one who has not experienced the 

 sensation can form any idea of the awe-inspir- 

 ing effects of a war of the elements in a deep 

 mountain gorge. The peals of thunder would 

 reverberate in an appalling manner from side 

 to side of the rocky prison, the blinding flashes 

 of lightning penetrating to the darkest abysses. 



The storm was so severe and the swollen 

 mountain torrent so dangerous to ford, which 

 was necessary every little distance owing to the 

 tortuous canyon, that they decided to make 

 camp as best they could in a semi-cave, formed 

 by the subsidence in times gone by of a large 

 block of earth and rock from one of the per- 

 pendicular walls. 



They were unable to continue their progress 



until the afternoon of the 24th, when they 

 made a fairly good start, camping that evening 

 about three miles farther up, under the friendly 

 shelter of a clump of lofty mountain pines. 

 The^ \vere now in the wildest portion of the 

 mountains, a spot frequented by California 

 lions, bears, and other native "varmints," a 

 place where but few white men had as yet 

 penetrated. A few warning "painter yells" 

 about dusk caused the boys a little uneasiness, 

 and resolved them on keeping up a good warm 

 fire most of the night, as panthers are noted for 

 their aversion to fire. 



The morning of the 25th dawned bright and 

 clear, and the spirits of our friends were corre- 

 spondingly elevated, especially as one of the first 

 sights that greeted them was a pair of immense 

 Condors sailing leisurely down the canyon, 

 passnig not a hundred feet above their heads. 



A mile farther up the canyon they came 

 upon what appeared to be immense chalk 

 cHffs which, forming a horseshoe shape, rose 

 perpendicularly several hundred feet high and 

 composed (at least at this place) the end 

 boundary or wall of the canyon. From far up 

 and over the center of the horseshoe came the 

 mountain stream, plunging in one long uninter- 

 rupted leap into a deep and dark pool at the 

 bottom, from whence it took a fresh start and 

 continued on down to the mouth of the canyon 

 as above noted. A nearer -approach to the 

 cliffs showed their chalky appearance was 

 superficial, being caused by long accumulations 

 of bird droppings. Several small caves were 

 observed at some distance up the perpendicular 

 walls, and a lone Condor perched on an over- 

 hanging rock aroused their anticipations to the 

 highest pitch. 



On discharging a firearm they were really 

 startled at seeing first a great yellow head 

 appear at the mouth of one of the caves, fol- 

 lowed by the vision of the whole bird perching 

 on the edge ; and then slowly spreading her 

 immense wings, which the boys say looked to 

 them to be twenty feet across (one could ex- 

 cuse them under the circumstances), she swept 

 majestically across the canyon, perching on a 

 little shelf not over a hundred yards distant. 

 We will leave out needless details, sufficing it 

 to say the ropes and tackle were adjusted, and 

 in due time one of our boys was suspended be- 

 fore the mouth of the cave, which was about 

 two feet high, four wide, and six feet in depth. 



About three feet from the entrance, in the 

 center of the cave, on the bare ground, in a 

 saucer-shaped depression, was a genuine egg of 

 the California Condor. It was safely lowered, 

 blown with small hole, and reached my cabinet, 

 "/'. califorfiianus, |, April 25, 1895, incuba- 

 tion begun," a rare and much prized specimen. 



