140 
DRV NOTES FROM DRV LAKE 
| Vo i.. VII 
over the lake causing a deep booming sound which was plainly heard a long way 
through the calm cold air of evening. 
A short time after we had gone to bed we heard an owl hooting over in the 
woods near the lake. The call notes were new to us but we failed to locate their 
source. About midnight I was awakened by Mr. Grinnell as he slipped out of 
bed. I watched him for several minutes as he stole stealthily about peering up 
into the pine trees. Then as a little owl came flitting over the campfire I recog- 
nized the cause of his nocturnal wanderings. The owl flew back and forth near 
the fire, perching for a moment now and then on the lower branches of a pine 
tree. Mr. Grinnell kept up with the bird, now advancing, now retreating, while 
his march was punctuated with smothered exclamations as his stocking feet came 
in contact with pine cones. Suddenly the sharp spiteful crack of the “aux” rang 
out; the owl circled over the bed and disappeared in the darkness. Nothing else 
disturbed our fitful slumbers until the golden rays of the sun reflected brightly 
from the snow covered summit of old Grayback. 
Some weeks later at Bluff Lake we again heard an owl calling. The notes 
were exactly the same as those heard at Dry Lake. The bird seemed to be off 
about 300 yards on a ridge but we found that the notes were very deceptive, and 
that the bird was not so far away as it seemed to be. Mr. Grinnell finally located 
the bird in the top of a tall pine tree and a charge of number six shot brought it 
down. It was a ffammulated screech owl ( Otus flammeold). 
Our provisions were running low, so after a very light breakfast, which con- 
sisted of two hardtacks, five dried prunes, five ginger snaps and a few sour beans 
for each of 11s, we set out to examine our mammal traps. As I was returning to 
camp a male Williamson sapsucker ( Sphyra pic us thry oldens) flew by me and lit on 
the side of a Murray pine. I shot the bird. When I picked him up I saw that 
his bill was lull of ants. I began to look for a nest as I felt sure that he was carry- 
ing the ants to his mate or their young. I looked up the tree and saw several 
holes. Then a faint squeaking came to my ears. The tree was alive but up 
about twenty feet were four holes drilled about eighteen inches apart. I found 
when I chopped the nest out that the wood where the holes were pecked was 
dead and partially rotten. The nest cavity was about ten inches deep and was 
occupied by three young birds which were still covered with natal down. In the 
bottom of the nest, partially covered with fine chips were two sterile eggs. The 
birds were very noisy; also hungry as they tried to swallow my finger every time 
it came too close to their bills. The female was near and seemed very much con- 
cerned. Her anxiety was perhaps increased by the loss of her mate so I fixed up 
the hole I had cut and descended. Although she had the responsibility and work of 
two thrown on her in rearing the young, she seemed equal to the occasion for 
when I visited the nest two weeks later the young had flown. Later in the day 
another nest was found similarly located containing four half fledged young. 
Audubon warblers ( Dendroica auduboni) flitted about among the trees carry- 
ing worms and insects to their mates or broods which were hidden away among the 
thick boughs of some pine tree. Just above the eienega in a thicket of chinqua- 
pin bushes we flushed a family of Stephens fox sparrows ( Passerella i. stephensi). 
The young were barely able to fly but scattered in all directions on our approach. 
The brilliant morning sunlight soon drove away the chilliness that had settled 
over the woods during the night, and brought forth the birds from their various 
resting places. Their lively twittering and call notes reminded us that we too 
must begin our day’s work, so we packed our blankets and traps and threw them 
across our shoulders, picked up our guns, and started over the ridge towards the 
north where our base camp lay some 3000 feet below us. 
Pasadena, California. 
