AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



19 



Another nest I found a season or two ago, down in the lowlands between 

 this city and the beach contained five snow-white eggs, and was the home of 

 a Short-eared Owl, quite a rare bird in California. When I found the nest 

 the old birds were at home — the female on the nest, the male sitting in the 

 tall grass, close by. Unfortunately, someone found the nest shortly after 

 I did and robbed it of its treasures, for when I went back to photograph 

 the young birds, three weeks later, there was not even a scrap of a broken 

 shell in the nest and the old birds were gone. 



This nest was flat on the ground, the eggs merely laid on a mat of marsh 

 grass, with a little rim of broken grass stems around it. I think it was an 

 abandoned nest of some one of the rail tribe, though it may have been made 

 by the owls themselves. These owls do an immense amount of good for the 

 farmers of this section and I regret very much the destruction of this one 

 family. 



The other photo I present is of a cave-cut cliff, wherein not one pair, but 

 a colony of Pacific Horned Owls have nested for years. 



Photo by A. H. Bradford 

 Nesting Place of Pacific Horned Owl. 



