196 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
j^oungsters beside her. The round head and boldly spotted markings of the 
adult were plainly visible : we were looking on Spotted Owls at home ! Small 
wonder that Van and I did something of a dance of triumph. To our aston- 
ishment the old bird did not seem to be disturbed in the least by our perform- 
ance although we were directly below her. She merely peered down upon us, 
giving us splendid views of her plumage. Finally we left her to herself while 
we went on to pitch camp and look up the small birds a bit. The forms were 
characteristic of the altitude. The full, descending call of the olive-sided fly- 
catcher set the key note, reminding us that the lowlands were left behind. 
California purple finches were singing in considerable numbers from the taller 
trees, western tanagers made flashes of color, and in the open places calliope 
hummers darted about. A courting male was taken by Mr. van Rossem. Every 
thick-foliaged oak had its black-throated gray warblers and, in an inaccessible 
crevice of the cliff itself, hundreds of white-throated swifts were apparently 
nesting. Twice a golden eagle sailed over us high in the air. 
Next morning we reached the owl’s nest early. To the best of my knowl- 
edge there had been but three previous authentic nesting records and aston- 
ishingly few records even of the birds themselves since the type was taken near 
old Fort Tejon in the early days of western ornithology. Bear with me, there- 
fore, if I set down their actions and calls in perhaps too great detail. 
A tall fir tree grew close in front of the cliff opposite the nest, and over 
a limb of this, as a preliminary to camera work, we tried to toss a weighted 
line. To our astonishment the weight almost struck the old owl. She had been 
l)erehing in the tree and so perfect Avas her blending that we had not noticed 
her at all. She merely fleAv to a nearby tree. Her tameness Avas becoming 
more and more apparent. About nine o’clock, in spite of the noise of arranging 
rope and tackle in the fir, she (I use the feminine by assumption) fleAv directly 
to the nest. Judging from her movements, and from the Ioav, excited squeak- 
ing of the young, she fed them — apparently something carried to them in her 
throat. If this Avas the ease, the young Avere soon satisfied, for they retired to 
the inner sanctum of the pot-hole until afternoon. 
The adult also slept the day aAvay, but remained outside and in plain 
sight from Avhere Ave SAVung from a limb of the fir fifty feet or so above the 
ground. We made AA^hat negatives Ave Avanted, and then Avaited until four 
0 ’clock Avhen all the oavIs had a period of sudden activity. The young came to 
the edge and tried their wings, hopping and flapping to and fro in the exposed 
part of the nest hole. The old bird, which had remained oblivious to the bang 
of our Graflex shiitter, finally aroused herself and crawled parrot-Avise along a 
narroAv ledge of the Avail face. She soon settled herself again, hoAvever, and 
slept so soundly that only by frantically flapping a focusing cloth could I even 
get her to open her eyes for a portrait. As the light grew too Aveak for photo- 
graphs Ave left her still asleep Avith her back to the setting sun, the easiest sort 
of a target for even a stone. 
Next morning the old bird sat dozing in a small oak near the nest, and 
only twenty feet from the ground. Her protective coloration, noticeable at all 
limes, Avas particularly so this morning as she sat in the oak. But Avhether she 
clung to the cliff, or sat close against the mottled fir trunk, or in the spotted 
light and shade of the oak foliage, her harmonization Avas startlingly complete. 
'This morning she seemed so oblivious to my approach that I Avas encouraged 
to climb the oak Avhere a limb gave standing room on a level Avith her. An 
insane idea it seemed, and yet she was so absolutely devoid of common sense 
