THE OOLOGIST 



51 



the nest was found to contain four 

 eggs, but these, like the Raven's, were 

 just coming to life as one was pipped 

 and the lusty youngsters could be 

 heard to squeal in the others. The 

 nest was a mere depression in the 

 sandy surface of the floor of the ledge 

 which was about two feet wide and 

 five or six feet long. Both birds flew 

 noisily about, often diving down to- 

 ward the collectors head, but always 

 turning upward when about 

 ten or flfteen feet away. Leaving this 

 cliff in disgust, we were wending our 

 way down one of the numerous cattle 

 trails of the vicinity toward the river 

 below us when we stumbled upon a 

 large steel trap lying in the middle 

 of the trail with the toe of a coyote 

 firmly held in its jaws silently testi- 

 fying to a surgical operation, per- 

 formed sometime in the past, by Dr. 

 Coyote in order that he might live 

 and pursue tame chickens no more! 



Reaching camp with only a cet ol 

 six Barn Owl to show for the half 

 day's work we silently resolved to 

 come earlier next time and to stay 

 longer, if necessary. We soon had our 

 supper by the camp fire and were 

 rolled in our blankets by our camp 

 fire and I wish I could say, softly 

 fell asleep, but such was not the 

 case, as between the prowling stock 

 which insisted upon helping our horse 

 to devour her hay and grain and the 

 howling of coyotes and an unquench- 

 able thirst for a drink of water, which 

 caused a trip to the river bank some 

 distance away, I can testify that at 

 least one member of our party did not 

 secure very much sleep. 



Breaking camp at five o'clock the 

 next morning we soon cooked our 

 breakfast and hit the road for further 

 prospects at six o'clock. Retracing 

 our route of the day before to the San 

 Luis Rey valley we were soon in the 

 river bottom and the home of the Red 



Bellied Hawk. In a large grove of 

 sycamores were seen a pair of Swain- 

 son Hawk making a nest and close by 

 in a large tree we located a nest of the 

 Red Bellied Hawk which, by the num- 

 ber of downy feathers hanging around 

 and on the nest, showed that it was in- 

 habited. One of the birds flushed from 

 the nest and upon climbing to the 

 nest, which was 45 feet from the 

 ground, it was found to contain four 

 heavily marked eggs, which proved 

 to be about one-half incubated at this 

 date. The nest was made chiefly of 

 green sprigs from the willow and was 

 softly lined with dead bark of the Cot- 

 tonwood. 



Leaving the river bottom here for 

 a ways to get onto the main road, we 

 crossed a hill upon which were grow- 

 ing several stunted pepper trees and 

 in one of these trees about four feet 

 from the ground a Roadrunner had 

 placed her nest, which contained four 

 eggs. We secured a photograph of 

 the nest with the eggs, but the old bird 

 was too wary to secure a picture of 

 her on the nest. 



Following the river for several 

 miles the next nest to be located was 

 another nest of the Red Bellied Hawk 

 about 60 feet up in a sycamore in a 

 dense grove close by the river's bank. 

 This was a very old nest and had ap- 

 parently been used for many years 

 and was finely lined with bark and 

 green leaves. The nest contained a 

 typical set of three eggs of the Red 

 Bellied hawk, which were well incu- 

 bated. After traveling for some time 

 we came in sight of our destination 

 for the day; a a large cliff on the face 

 of a big boulder-strewn mountain 

 which rose abruptly from the river's 

 edge to an eleA^ation of perhaps 2,500 

 feet. At the base of the mountain we 

 made our stop for noon and while 

 one of us was getting dinner ready the 

 other was out looking up a hawk nest 



