6 THB ACULDSU BION  BpUti ee 
the low bushes and dwarf trees which grew in the gulches and on the 
hillsides. As I climbed higher where the pines grew, long-crested jays 
scolded me, and there were mountain chickadees and nuthatches in the 
trees. Some snow still lay in the gulches and on the northerly slopes, but 
was not enough to interfere with climbing. 
After visiting one of the old nests which showed no signs of being 
occupied, I started back home, and then decided to investigate a high cliff 
which looked from below as though it might be attractive to eagles. This 
cliff was probably about two miles from Golden as the crow flies, but I 
had to cover perhaps twice that distance in getting to it. As I approached 
its base my hopes rose when I saw an eagle fly away, and then I saw a 
nest near the spot from which the eagle had flown. 
As I have stated, I was alone, and had no paraphenalia for cliff- 
scaling, but the thrill of seeing the eagle fly, possibly from a nest, so 
inspired me that I decided to attempt climbing to the nest, in spite of the 
fact that it seemed like an almost impossible feat. Then, too, had I 
fallen I might never have been found in time for me to benefit from a 
rescue, for no one knew I was hunting eagile’s nests that day! The cliff 
was on the south side of. the canyon, and must have been not far from 
1,000 feet above the creek, the perpendicular portion being perhaps 200 or 
300 feet high. As I climbed, or rather as I paused to rest, there was a 
fine view up and down the canyon, of the bordering hills, and of the creek 
and railroad tracks at the bottom. From the nest the bottom seemed a 
long way down! 
As I started up the cliff another eagle flew away, and then I saw 
another nest, a little lower down than that I had discovered a few minutes 
earlier. The idea came to me that this second eagle was the female and 
that the lower nest was that being used for the eggs. This assumpticn I 
was glad to find to be correct, for the climb was proving to be even more 
difficult that I had anticipated. However, by making use of occasional 
shrubs for handholds, and stopping quite frequently to get my breath, 
let the cramps subside in my legs, and I must admit, to bolster my courage, 
I finally reached the ledge for which I had started, and at once felt repaid 
for all my efforts when I found a comparatively new nest with two eggs. 
As was the case with the nest in Dry Creek Canyon, this nest was on a 
ledge of rock on the northeast face of the cliff, and had a similar overhang 
cf rock to give it some protection from the weather. In construction this 
nest was much the same as that visited the year before, but seemed to have 
been more recently built. Once more I had a sense of relief that the eagles 
behaved as had those of Dry Creek Canyon, disappearing when I ap- 
proached the nest, without making any effort to assault me, and not being 
seen again while I was there. A fight with two eagles on the face of so 
steep a cliff would probably have resulted in a victory for the defenders 
of their home! Their failure to make even the least effort to attack me 
gives me strong doubts of the many stories I have heard and read of eagles 
attacking persons who have climbed to their nests. On a third such 
occasion it might be different, but I doubt it. 
There seemed to be no way to get off the ledge except by following 
