142 
THE CONDOR 
| VOL. VIII 
tion to the chick under her nose, who had now grown too weak to even squirm. 
He seemed nothing more to her than the shell by her side. I knew the chick would 
die if he were not warmed immediately, so I climbed around to the front door of the 
cave and tried to make the mother move over and hover her nestling. This would 
not work so I reached in and got the youngster again and he was chilled thru, and 
with our cold hands we could give him little warmth. As a last remedy we held 
him close in to our warm bodies, and after a little while, he began to squirm again 
as the warmth seemed to revive him. 
At that instant, I looked up and saw the male condor soaring above and dropping 
lower and lower. My heart sank for a moment as I felt like crouching down and 
crawling under cover. But reaching for my tripod as a weapon of defence, I stood 
there while the big bird swung around 
only a few yards above our heads and 
lit on the perch of the dead pine about 
forty feet away. He sat there with 
wings out-stretched and watching us 
closely. It made us crouch closer be- 
hind the bushes to have a bird of such 
size so near above and threatening to 
pounce upon us at any moment. 
But we soon saw that he had no inten- 
tion of fighting. 
All the time we were in great doubt 
as to whether the mother would accept 
her chick again if he were revived. 
She sat there all the while with her 
head down watching thru the crevice. 
As soon as the young bird revived so 
he could kick about, I crawled down 
near the nest and thrust my arm 
clear in till I almost touched her 
nose and put the chick down before 
her. Then I slid back down the 
rock. It was a moment of intense 
anxiety for me; if she did not take the 
chick to her, it meant his death, as 
OLD CONDOR ON TREE-PERCH NEAR NEST. FEATHERS W ell aS ail Clld tO all Olll" dreaniS of 
RUFFLED UP ABOUT NECK IN USUAL ATTITUDE . ,-r • , . 
getting a life series of pictures oi this 
rare bird. For an instant she paid no attention to him, but just then he began 
to stir and wriggle. Her eyes changed from their vacant stare: she suddenly 
seemed to recognize her nestling, and putting her bill down she drew him gently 
near, crouching down at the same time and finally drawing him under her breast. 
We felt very much relieved at this and hurriedly taking our camera, we started 
back down the mountain leaving the pair of big birds and their nestling. 
The rain had continued till everything was soaked. Wading thru the brush, 
we were soon wet thru and then after the climb up to the trail again, we had 
the worst part to traverse, for the path was thru the high bushes, each of which 
held a shower of drops. But we had five plates any one of which, if it were good, 
would pay for a thirty-five mile trip into the mountains, and better still we had the 
hope of getting more in the future. 
Portland , Oregon. 
