40 
THE CONDOR 
1 Vol. IV 
mar its snowy whiteness. However let 
me state that the majority are cream- 
colored and when sycamore down is 
used in the construction the nest ap- 
pears a rusty color. We find it always 
completely saddled to a branch or twig 
— horizontal and otherwise, and when 
the angle becomes extreme an odd cor- 
nucopia effect is produced. So in such 
a fairy structure of % inches inside dia- 
meter. the two perfectly elliptical eggs 
are deposited. These I have found to 
average .30X.51 inches. Before incuba- 
tion has begun they possess a decidedly 
pinkish tinge and it would be difficult 
to say whether they look prettier before 
or after their contents have been ex- 
tracted — we will however leave such 
delicate question to the primary owners. 
I have always been interested in the 
remarkable elasticity of the nests of the 
Anna hummingbird which allows itself 
to double its inside diameter by the 
time the young have reached their larg- 
est nest size. I will only add that I 
have found the same elasticity in T. 
alexandri although in not such a mark- 
ed degree. Such are the most notable 
features I have observed in the nidifica- 
tion of this species in several years ac- 
quaintance. 
Owl Notes from Southern California. 
FRANK STEPHENS. 
O N April 28, 1883, I took 
of nine eggs from a burrow of 
Speotyto cuniculaj’ia hypogcea near 
San Bernardino, and the next day anoth- 
er set of nine eggs from another burrow 
near the first one. These are the largest 
sets I have ever taken. I was hunting 
with F. Ball January 18, 1885, in the 
foothills northeast of San Bernardino. 
About noon we were walking up a 
gulch when Ball fired into a bush and 
on walking over to it picked up 
Megascops Jlammeoliis. He said it had 
flown from the other side of the gulch, 
and appeared to be carrying in its 
claws something like a lizard or a bird. 
On March 25, 1884, I took a set of 
ten eggs of Strix prat incola from a nest 
• 
in an old dovecote in a barn near San 
Bernardino. I had found a brood of 
six newly hatched young in this nest 
during January of the same year. 
June 20, 1892, I shot a male, female, 
and one young Syrniuni occidentale on 
Smith Mountain, San Diego Co., at 
about 5,000 feet. The young bird was 
just about able to fly. 
I shot an adult male Nyctala acadica 
August II, 1898, at Round Valley, 
San Jacinto Mts. altitude 9200 feet. I 
saw some small owl ffy from one pine 
to another and shot into the pine. This 
is the only owl of this species I have 
taken in California. In July, 1894, I 
heard the species in Modoc Couuty. 
set 
