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 I24 THE breeding ground the majority of birds seemed to be males, but this may have been an illusion caused by their greater conspicuousness. Or perhaps the fe- nroles dropped out into the fields in closer proximity to their nests. The food which they carried seemed to con- sist mostly of large, smooth, green cater- pillars from the alfalfa fields, and the benefit derived from the presence of such a large number of active insect destroyers must be enormous. Within a mile of this breeding ground were several nests of ]uteo swainsoni, some of which were placed in tenturk- able positions for a hawk, considering the fact that large cottonwood and pop- lar trees were numerous only a mile or so distant. One nest containing three partly incubated eggs was found in a willow that had been put in the ground to serve as a fence post for barbed wire and which had sprouted. into a small bushy tree. This nest was so low that I reached into it from the ground, and yet it was only a few feet from a road through the fields that was used to some extent almost every day. Another containing four eggs was discovered between a wagon road and the irrigating canal in a small willow that leaned over the latter, the nest be- ing placed about sixteen feet above the water. Yet some of these birds built their nests out on the end of slim branches of very tall trees in such a way as to be safe from the depredations of even the small boy. I revisited this ranch six weeks later and repaired reedlately to the tule patch to see what had been done meanwhile by the .4. tricolor. The tules had doubled their height and were as thick as it was possible for them to grow. Only a few of the birds were in the vicinity and these were mcst probably some that had hatched out a seeend setting after the first had been destroyed. Large flocks were seen along the river six miles away, but in very inaccessible rule land among deep overflow channels full of water. CON DOR I Vol. II These flocks were mixed up with // . calfornicus and some few Xanthoceph- alus .xanthocephalus. The breeding place of this latter species remained undis- covered by me, and I could get no in- formation concerning it. Upon this second visit the young Buteo swainsoni were found to have all left their nests and were flying about in all stages and varieties of plumage. Two young ones which were shot proved to be especial- ly interesting in that one was in the dark phase and the other in the light, though evidently out' of the .same nest as they were shot, together' with the old one, under such conditions as to nmke it certain that the group was of one family. Nesting 0f the Condor on the Slope 0f the Cuyamacas, San Diego Co, Cal. PHOTOGRAPHING A NEST. ARCH, 9oo found Prof. W. V. Dyche and I at Mesa Grande, making ready for an extended trip through the mountain regions of San Diego and Riverside counties in quest of the eggs of the larger species of birds inhabiting these regions. The professor had a pair of condors located in the Cuyamaca Mountains, in the Boulder Creek country, and had em- ployed reliable parties to watch them. Just a few days before we were to start on our intended trip, Prof. Dyche received word from the boys that the birds had an egg in the nest, and to come immediately. We accordingly started the next day, taking with us a kodak, provisions and 5o feet of rope for scaling cliffs. After a ride of 22 miles by way of Julian and the Eagle Peak road we arrived at the rancho about two o'clock in the afternoon. After a hasty lunch we saddled our horses and with rope and camera and accompanied by our guides, we traveled over five miles of the steepest, roughest and rockiest country in Southern California, arriving at the foot of the cliff where the nest was situated at about 3.3o p.m.