58 
THE CONDOR 
I Vol. IV 
American ravens sailed in circles high 
in the air. We located several nests in 
inaccessible places which were undoubt- 
edly nests of ravens. When we had 
satisfied our curiosity we made tracks 
for camp and on the way found several 
old nests which we felt sure were those 
of Woodhouse jay. The nests w'ere 
placed in the low scrub oak, some of 
tlKin only two or three feet above the 
ground. 
Two or three days later, April i8, I 
secured loo feet of inch and-a-quartcr 
rope from a friend in an adjoining 
mining camp and, assisted by my part- 
ner, we again made our way to the cliff. 
On reaching the top of the ridge we 
made our way down to the edge of the 
cliff through a gorge in the solid rock, 
where a bunch of oak trees were grow- 
ing. We tied the rope to one of these 
oaks and when everything was secure I 
slid down the rope for twenty or thirty 
feet to a shelf-like projection. At this 
point I was somewhat confused; I was 
standing just above the nesting cavity 
where the cliff hung over considerably. 
About four feet to one side there was 
a crevice in the rock and by jerking 
the rope over a point above me 
I could let myself down the crevice. 
When I had lowered myself to a 
point opposite the nest I found 1 
was in a dangerous position as the strain 
on the rope was not direct and by the 
least false move the rope would be 
likely to slip over the point of rock and 
set me whirling out in space 75 feet 
above the ground. 
Had the rope been long enough to 
reach to the base of the cliff I should 
not have felt the least fear for it would 
have been an easy matter to slide on 
down. As it was, only fifteen feet of 
tlie rope hung below me. 1 knew 1 
would have to climb to the top again 
and climbing a loose rope is not child’s 
play for it is nearly all handover-hand 
work. While I tliought of these things 
I had a good resting place and mean- 
time had worked up considerable cour- 
age. Just above the nesting cavity was 
a hole through the solid rock, leading 
downward into the cavity. It was 
rather a risky undertaking as I made 
my way along the face of the cliff to 
this hole. I held the rope in one hand 
and the sharp points of rock in the 
other, at the same time using my feet to 
steady myself. I could stand in the 
edge of the nesting cavity and by stick- 
ing my arm down the hole mentioned, 
could hold on with one hand. 
1 could look into the cavity through 
the hole but could not quite see the 
nest. Now came another difficulty; the 
csve was only two feet high, of about 
the same width and ran back about six 
feet from the face of the cliff. By 
keeping my hand hold I could lean over 
just far enough to see that the nest con- 
tained eggs. Just about this time I for- 
got all my danger and somehow man- 
aged to squeeze into the cavity head 
first. The nest was about four feet from 
the entrance of the cavity, in a depres- 
sion in the solid rock, with no nesting 
material except a few feathers of the 
old bird and small bones and hair of the 
smaller quadrupeds; also a number of 
pellets ejected by the old birds. I am 
certain that both birds occupy the nest- 
ing cavity at night for there was a de- 
pression in the end of the cavit}^ which 
showed signs of being occupied bj" one 
of the birds. 
The nest contained five eggs, rather 
light in color for the eggs of this species. 
The}' have a yellowish-brown appear- 
ance, the color being almost solid but 
somewhat darker about the larger ends. 
The smallest egg in the set measures 
2.03x1.64 inches and the largest 2.13X 
1.63. After making a thorough exami- 
nation of the cavity I thought of getting 
back on top once more. I had a tin 
tobacco box with me which would ac- 
commodate only three of the eggs, so it 
was entirely useless. It was rather a 
difficult task in so small a place, but I 
managed to slip my overshirt off and 
after wrapping the eggs in what little 
cotton I had, I rolled them in my shirt. 
During this whole performance I had 
