122 
VOL. XII 
NESTING OF THE SPOTTED OWE IN NORTHEASTERN LOS ANGELES 
COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 
Iiy LAWRENCE PEYTON 
I T was in the month of may, 1908, that the Spotted Owl ( Strix occidentals ) was 
first observed nesting in the same hole from which the eggs were subsequently 
taken, in 1909 and 1910. At that time my father and my brother Sidney were 
looking for some cattle and notist the female in the hole with the heads of the 
young birds sticking out from under her. The hole was in the face of a granite 
cliff about 15 feet up and extending back about two feet. The men did not look 
into the nest when they went up, but on the way back my brother cut a long pole 
and carried it quite a ways, intending to shin up to the nest with it; but in some 
way he past the hole and had to throw 7 the pole away as it was getting too dark to 
go back. 
In 1909 my father, my brother and I started for Castaic on March 30, arriving 
at our bee camp in the Castaic Canyon about 5 o’clock in the evening, having driven 
about 40 miles. The next morning w 7 e workt around the bees; but in the after- 
noon my brother and I went over to some cliffs not far away and succeeded in 
finding a set of six eggs of the Rock Wren. The next morning at seven o’clock 
we started to walk to the owl’s nest, carrying an ax, a shot gun, and a can of 
beans for dinner. It is about seven miles from camp to the nest site which is in a 
tributary of the Castaic called Fish Canyon, and most of it over rough trail; so w T e 
knew that we w 7 ould have to walk pretty lively in order to get back for supper. It 
had rained about four days before and the creek was still high, so we were in water 
up to our knees about half the time. 
We got to the nest about ten o’clock and found the female on the nest and the 
male sitting on a small bush about ten feet away. We went back down the creek 
a little ways and cut down a small alder tree, trimmed it up and carried it back to 
the nest. We then leaned it up against the cliff so that it would reach the nest and 
then I shinned up. I grabbed the female by the wing, jerkt her off, and saw 7 
something that would gladden the heart of any collector. "Two eggs,” I shouted. 
I put the eggs in my hat, took the hat in my teeth and slid down. 
When I pulled the bird off the nest she flew into a small tree near by, but 
while we were blowing the eggs she flew over to where the male was sitting and lit 
beside him. Then they stuck their bills into the feathers of each other’s necks and 
talkt in soft cooing tones. While we w T ere there the male called several times. 
It sounded like the distant baying of a hound. One of the eggs was about half in- 
cubated and the other just medium. They measured 1.93 x 1.63, 1.88 x 1.62 
inches. When we had finisht blowing the eggs we ate dinner and then started 
back to camp where w r e arrived about half past two, tired, but w r ell satisfied with 
the result of the trip. 
This year my brother and I started for the bee ranch on March 28, arriving 
there the same evening. The next morning we w'orkt w 7 ith the bees and in the 
afternoon collected a set of California Bush-tit. The next morning, good and early, 
we started to walk to the owd’s nest. We carried a shot gun this time, too, and in- 
tended to collect the birds also, if they had nested there again. We also carried a 
couple of gunny sacks to put the birds in, if we got them. We arrived at the nest 
about ten o’clock and sure enough, there w 7 as the old female on the nest, and the 
male sitting in the same bush. I pulled off my shoes and socks, and using the pole 
wdiich we had cut last year, shinned up to the nest. Then I lifted the female up 
