Nov. iqo6 I LIFE HISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR. PART I 
139 
By this time it had begun to rain in earnest; so we stopped and built a fire and 
ate lunch, hoping it would clear off so we could continue. We waited for two 
hours, but there was no change in the weather except for the worse, so we gathered 
our traps and set out for home thirty-five miles away. 
The weather continued stormy and our next trip to the condor's nest was post- 
poned till March 23 . A heavy sea-fog hung low over’the country, but we had hopes 
that there was blue sky beyond. As we went on the fog did not clear, and we 
seemed likely to have a day simi- 
lar to our last trip. We finally 
stowed away part of our equip- 
ment in the brush and with one 
camera and some lunch, started 
up the creek, which was still 
high. 
The last two storms had car- 
ried down great masses of rock 
and shale from the steep slopes 
and washed out the trail in some 
places. In another place a 
bowlder weighing a ton blocked 
the path. When we reached the 
steep ascent up the side of the 
mountain, the trail was almost 
obliterated, but just enough was 
left to follow. It took an hour 
to reach the top of the ridge. 
Following the trail that skirt- 
ed the mountain side, we reached 
a place several hundred yards 
down the canyon from the nest, 
and then descended to the 
stream which we crossed several 
times before reaching the spot 
below the nest. Here it began 
to rain and we stopped under a 
tree for lunch. 
At one o'clock it still rained 
and the trees and bushes were 
wet. But we were too near the 
big nest not to try a few pic- 
tures even in the rain. Strap- 
ping the camera firmly to my 
back, we began the steep ascent 
of fifty yards to the cave. 
Hanging to the roots and bushes and edging from side to side up the rocky surface, 
we both reached the pocket containing the nest. 
When we climbed over where we could look between the rocks and see into the 
cave, the old bird was on. I went closer and could see her bald head of orange 
color, and the great black bird still sat 011 the nest. I climbed up within four feet 
of her and whistled and yelled till she rose on her feet. She looked so big that I 
NEST AND EGG OF CALIFORNIA CONDOR. SHOWS MATERIAL COM- 
POSING FLOOR OF NEST-CAVE. PHOTO TAKEN FROM LEDGE 
OVERHEAD. AND LOOKING DIRECTLY DOWN INTO NEST 
