64 
THE CONDOR 
t Vol. Ill 
thirty feet to the first dead limb which 
contained colonies, lar^e ones, of a 
black ant. Between the bites of the 
ants, the camera would slip around un- 
der me and impede my progress. My 
tri]) up to that nest and back to terra 
firnm would have been immensely inter- 
esting to a disinterested observer seated 
a short distance from the tree. My sole 
interest lay in getting down as quickly 
as ants and camera would let me when 
1 found no eggs in the deserted nest. 
After getting a picture of this nest and 
eating lunch the tramp was resumed 
and about three o’clock I was standing 
in a small oak tree looking down into 
my second nest, at two eggs which 
were finally collected after a hard climb. 
This nest was also in a pine on an- 
other one of those steep hillsides which 
.seem to be selected .so often by the birds 
in this locality. Owing to brush, trees 
and slope of ground it was impossible 
to obtain a full-length view of anj^ trees 
holding nests. Plate III shows a typi- 
cal eagle’s nest with typical background 
in the distance. The set on the 13th 
wa.st'taken from here. I^ast 5^ear one 
egg was laid and hatched in this nest. 
Just as I stopped to look at the nest for 
the last time this year at 30 yards dis- 
tance, the male flew to it with a squirrel 
in his claws. He looked at the nest, 
called several times, looked earnestly 
across the canyon, and then, happening 
to turn around and see me, quickly took 
wing and sailed away. 
On the 1 5th of March I mounted my 
wheel and started on a 75-mile ride to 
visit two nests di.scovered on a hunting 
trip a month before. Passing through 
a narrow valley and over a mountain 
range four pairs of birds were seen, one 
pair of which I determined to investi- 
gate on my return trip, which was done. 
It was high noon when investigations 
were commenced. The birds were cir- 
cling about the usual place, the female 
having evidently just left the nest. 
.Several inviting-looking gulches with 
but few trees lured me on around one 
hill after another. As I’d go over a 
ridge and glance back there were the 
birds watching unconcernedly, a half- 
mile away. When my desire for the 
set of eggs had vanished under the hot 
sun and rough climbing, the wheel was 
mounted and the birds still circled 
about in their accustomed haunt. It 
was decidedly annoying, yet no more 
so than to climb to a nest the eagle had 
just left and find no eggs. This had 
been my luck the da)^ before at the end 
of a long day’s ride. Think of it; 75 
miles and return by wheel to look into 
an old eagle’s nest and the composition 
no different from one that could have 
been reached in an hour from home! 
The nest was all ready for eggs which 
would have been mine had the trip 
been delayed a week. I trust she 
hatched and reared her young success- 
fully. 
An hour before inspecting this nest 
another one was visited and jdelded its 
two eggs to my basket. This nest w'as 
the kind to dream about,-^a regular 
Taylor-Barlow situation, where you 
step on to a limb and gaze delightedl}^ 
at the nest and the. treasures contained 
therein, 35 feet up with limbs plentiful 
enough to serve as a ladder; what more 
could one want than to have the small 
boys of the neighborhood unacquainted 
with its whereabouts? But this ‘long- 
felt-want’ of Sargents and other places 
is not felt here. Quite the contrary. 
Soon after collecting the set I passed 
one of the small boys on his way home 
from school and tackled him on the sub- 
ject of eagles’ nests. He had passed it 
a week before going up the ridge and 
had '"see 7 i the heji on the nest"\ An in- 
cident of this character reconciles us to 
many of the shortcomings and disap- 
pointments we meet with so often, and 
keeps alive the spirit that draws us to 
the hills and to the mountains as each 
succeeding March comes round. 
w w w* 
Fred M. Dille, the well-known Denver orni- 
thologist, has removed to Altona, Boulder Co., 
Colo., which we trust will prove an inviting 
collecting field. 
