198 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
and fear that I was able to strap on my climbers and thud up the straight 
trunk below her till my hand was actually within five feet of her. All she did 
was to peer at me wide-eyed and bob slowly from side to side. But this was 
too close even for her, and she sailed across to an adjoining tree. She cer- 
tainly was the incarnation of trusting tameness or stupidity, — call it what you 
will. 
The new perch made photography impossible, but as we sat watching her 
we were treated to a glimpse of her morning toilet. Contorting herself into 
every conceivable position 
she shook her feathers into 
perfect place and carefully 
preened away every frayed 
feather tip. There was some- 
thing ludicrous in her every 
action. Even in the midst of 
her toilet there were sudden 
periods when Morpheus 
seemed to overpower her and 
she would doze off, only to 
awake with a start a few 
moments later and continue 
the performance. Her move- 
ments were much more gen- 
tle than those of the horned 
owls. The lack of their ear 
tufts and yellow irides also 
gave her a far more agree- 
able expression, although I 
must confess that certain 
startled expressions, — when 
one did succeed in startling 
her, — seemed unpleasantly 
lynx-like. When she moved 
along a limb her every move- 
ment suggested a parrot, re- 
ally a striking resemblance. 
The next thing was to 
reach the nest in' order to 
photograph the young, and 
here our troubles began. 
It was a good example of 
the difficulties of judg- 
ing distances in a big country. We guessed the cliff as one hundred and fifty 
feet high and a block of stone on its brim as perhaps twenty feet square. The 
latter turned out to be as big as a two-story house, while the end of our two 
hundred foot rope writhed sickeningly seventy feet above the ground when 
we lowered it from the brim. It did not even reach the nest. A tree that we 
dropped against the base of the cliff, after much perspiring axe work, also fell 
short. A ledge just below the nest proved unnegotiable even for the goat of 
the party, — who shall be nameless. All this meant one thing: more rope and 
another long round trip. 
Pig. 58. Spotted Owl: the nest was a 
HOLE SIXTY-FI'VE FEET ABO'VE THE GEOUND. 
POT- 
