156 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIII 
afternoon (the cavity faced in a westerly direction), and this platform was a])- 
parently leaves and cedar bark covered with dirt. As a food supply there were the 
hindquarters of a cottontail rabbit, a pocket gopher ( 'f/ionioniys) , and three young 
Pinyon Jays, just about large enough to leave the nest. T'he heads of these latter 
were missing. 
When I passed through Paonia in 190d, I had no time to investigate the nest, 
even if it was not probably too late in the season, June first. 
While staying at Gaume’s ranch in the northwestern part of Baca County, the 
last of May, 190,5, a pair of Horned Owls had two young in a hole or small 
cave in the sandstone bluffs which formed the back of the corrals. I could see at 
times an adult and young bird, and at times both the young, sitting at the edge of 
the hole. I estimated this as thirty feet above the bottom of the bluff, and ten be- 
low the top. I did not visit the place itself, though I could have done .so easily 
enough, but init it off too long, and then the time came for me to leave. I first saw 
the place Maj- 20; on the 24th I found on the hill above and back of the nest a 
dead young owl. * My notes say that its body was covered with down, and the 
wing feathers about half grown out. I did not see any birds about the nest after 
this. 
The people at the ranch told me that the owls had never molested their poultry 
though there were many chickens of all sizes and ages running about everywhere 
below the nest. This .seems rather strange, considering the reputation of the birds 
as poultry thieves, and for general destructiveness. Perhaps the owls appreciated 
the fact that their existence depended on their good behavior, and acted accordingly. 
MAY XOTIiS P'ROM SAN JACINTO TAKP: 
By WILLET'l' and .VXTOXIX J.W 
WITH THRKE PHOTOS 
O N THH morning of May 27, the present j^ear, the writers left Los Angeles 
by automobile for a short ornithological trip, our objective point being San 
Jacinto Lake, or Mystic Lake as it is called on most maps, which is situ- 
ated in west central Riverside Count3q California. This lake is in the San Jacinto 
\’alle\q at an altitude of about 1500 feet. It is in reality nothing more than a 
slough or sink, being only about two miles long and from a quarter to a half mile 
wide. In no part of it is the water more than waist deep. 
Along the shores and for a hundred or more feet out into the water is a luxu- 
rious growth of marsh grass, which is a feeding ground for numerous birds that 
are partial to frog’s eggs and pollywogs, mo.squitos and other insects. It is also a 
breeding ground for coots, grebes and some of the ducks. At the east end of the 
lake are extensive tide beds, in some places so thick that they are almost impossi- 
ble to penetrate. In these tide thickets are found the main nesting colonies, and 
the abundance and variety of the breeding birds makes this locality one of the most 
interesting of its kind in southern California. The lake has been previously visited 
by several ornithologists, among them being A. M. Ingersoll and W. B. Judson, 
who visited it in June, 1897, and O. W. Howard and H. J. Lelande, who were 
there in the summer of 1910. From information furnished us bi^ them we were 
well posted in advance as to what birds we might expect to find there. W’e were 
