6 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. VII 
How could we ever secure a good series of pictures at such a distance from the 
ground? It looked impossible at first, but a careful examination revealed a rare 
arrangement of nests and surroundings. If we could but hoist our equipment 
there was no question as to photographs. Eight feet below the aerie the trunk of 
the tree branched and spread in such a way that we could climb to a point just 
above the nest on the opposite limb. We strapped the camera in a crotch that 
seemed built for the purpose, with the sun coming from the right direction. The 
rub came in focusing the instrument. One hundred and twenty feet is not such a 
dizzy height when you stand on the ground and look up, but strap yourself to the 
limb of a tree and dangle out backward over the brink. No matter how strongthe 
rope, there’s a feeling of death 
creeping up and down every 
nerve in your body the first time 
3'ou try it. 
The eggs of some hawks differ 
widely in marking, but the two 
we found in the cottonwood year 
after year were always of a bluish 
white tint, with pale lavender 
shell markings. The mother 
cradles her two eggs just about 
the first of April before the 
first buds begin to swell on 
the cottonwoods. The spring 
of 1902 the young birds hatched 
on April 20th. The picture 
of the birds in down was 
taken on May third. The 
third photograph was taken on 
May 18th, when the heads were 
still covered with downy white 
but the bodies were well feath- 
ered out. The fourth picture 
of the series was taken on May 
24th when the young were al- 
most full grown (frontispiece). 
On the first day of June both 
the young hawks left the nest. 
This makes the period almost 
two months to the day from the 
time the eggs are laid till the 
at the base of the hawk tree youngsters make their debut in- 
to the world. 
We made a close study of the red-tail’s home in the tall cottonwood. He was 
always a successful hunter. In all our visits we never saw the time when his larder 
was empty. Nor did we find that we had to resort to the chicken yard for food. 
There was plenty of wild game. On the first visits we found the remains of quail 
and pheasants in the aerie. One morning we saw the mangled body of a screech 
owl; almost a case of hawk eat hawk. Later in the season when the banks of the 
Columbia overflowed, and covered most of the surrounding country, the old hawk did 
not abandon his own preserve. He turned his attention entirely to fishing. Where 
