152 
THE CONDOR 
Voc. XII 
flight against the head-wind return, the male accompanying her both times and 
perching on nearby rocks while she placed the material. 
We felt, however, that it was too great a risk to continue our investigations in 
the vicinity of the nest, as the birds might desert it; so we rounded the peak to 
the east side where by careful watching we found three pairs engaged in nest-bild- 
ing. One pair Carriger and I observed together, and a pair each singly; but in 
every case the birds descended to such depths that all trace of them was lost. 
Sometimes they entered openings and crevises but a few feet away, carrying mate- 
rial, and w'oukl soon emerge again with an empty bill; but search as w 7 e would, as 
far as we could reach or see we were unable to locate another nest, altho every 
movable boulder was dislodged. Other birds, again, were very wary, disappearing 
beneath the rocks with material and coming up twenty feet or so distant still car- 
rying it in the beak. It was only after a series of such decoy-trips as these, in 
the passages beneath the rock, that the elusive birds finally placed the material and 
flew away for more, leaving us completely bewildered as to the location of the nest. 
In every instance, it was the female who was engaged in the nest bilding, she 
was always accompanied by her twittering mate who remained on some nearby 
rock or hovered in the air while she disappeared between the rocks. One bird, a 
protege of Carriger’s, went down thru the boulders and, altho he w r aited near the 
spot a long time, did not appear again. At half-past three I found a broken fresh 
egg, which we believed to be of this species, lying on a boulder at a point where a 
bird had previously gone in with nest material. On finding this we felt almost sure 
there were some nests on the peak containing eggs and we redoubled our efforts to 
flush sitting birds; but the longer we workt the more we began to realize that the 
nest found was placed in an exceptionally favorable location and that the chances 
of finding another similarly placed w 7 ere excedingly remote. 
At five o’clock the strong southwest wind, which had begun blowing at three, 
now became so riotous that we were forced to leave. Before going, however, it 
was definitly agreed that I w y as to return on the 19th of June and revisit the nest 
found. With this object in view I spent considerable time “ducking” various 
prominent rocks in a line from the nest down the side of the peak to the nearest 
timber. The process of “ducking’’ consists of piling three rocks upon one another 
and is the common landmark used along all the mountain trails. To preclude the 
possibility of missing the location, at the third “duck” from the nest a blue cord 
was tied around a large boulder, while at the last an arrow pointed strait to the 
nest-cavity; and in addition to this, an accurate map of the location was drawn. 
While all this precaution may seem unnecessary one must consider that the entire 
peak is one mass of boulders and that particular spots would be almost impossible 
to remember. In fact we were surprized at the remarkable memory possest by the 
bilding birds who journeyed half a mile or more away and came back to the exact 
spot without hesitation; and when they did not do so, it was purposely. 
Returning, we made camp at dusk and after reviewing our experience long into 
the night, we came to the conclusion that, wdiile we had a day or even two to 
spare, further trips to the peak would simply end dn a fruitless search. Every- 
thing now, we felt, depended on the nest found, and upon the successful re- 
turn to it. 
The following morning was spent about Porni’s, and at half-past one we 
started by Desolation Valley for Lake of the Woods. This picturesque lake of 
unrivaled beauty we reacht at six o’clock, after negotiating a series of precipitous 
cliffs and snow drifts, and fording a number of icy torrents. On the next day, 
after some field work about the lake in the early and frosty morning hours, we 
