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58 THE CONDOR I Vol. IV American ravens sailed in circles high in the air. We located several nests in inaccessible places which were undoubt- edly nests of ravens. When we had satisfied our curiosity we made tracks for camp and on the way found several old nests which we f?lt sure were those of Woodhouse jay. 'rhe nests were placed in the low scrub oak, some of them only two or three feet above the ground. Two or three days later, April ?8, I secured too feet of inch. and-a-quarter rope from a friend in an adjoining mining camp and, assisted by my part- ner, we again made our way to the cliff. On reaching the top of the ridge we made our way down to the edge of the cliff through a gorge in the solid rock, where a bunch of oak trees were grow- ing. We tied the rope to one of these oaks and when everything was secure I slid down the rope for twenty or thirty feet to a shelf-like projection. At this point I was somewhat confused; I was standing just above the nestimz cavity where the cliff hung over considerably. About four feet to one side there was a crevice in the rock and by jerking the rope over a point above me I could let myself down the crevice. When I had lowered myself to a point opposite the nest I found I was in a dangerous position as the strain on the rope was not direct and by the least false move the rope would be likely to slip over the point of rock and set me whirling out in space 75 feet above the ground. Had the rope been long enough to reach to the base of the cliff I shonld not have felt the least fear for it would have been an easy matter to slide on down. As it was, only fifteen eet of the rope hung below me. I knew I would have to climb to the top again and climbing a loose rope is not child's play for it is nearly all hand-over-hand work. While I thought of these things I had a good resting place and mean- time had worked up considerable cour- age. Just above the nesting cavity was a hole through the solid rock, leading d. ownward into the cavity. It was rather a risky undertaking as I made my way along the face of the cliff to this hole. I held the rope in one hand. and the sharp points of rock in the other, at the same time using my feet to steady myself. I could stand in the edge of the nesting cavity and by stick- ing my arm down the hole mentioned, could hold on with one hand. I could look into the cavity through the hole but could not quite see the nest. Now came another difficulty; the cave was only two feet high, of about the satne width and ran back about six feet from the face of the cliff. By keeping my hand hold I could lean over just far enough to see that the nest con- tained eggs, Just about this time I for- got all my danger and somehow man- aged to squeeze into the cavity head first. The nest was about four feet from the entrance of the cavity, in a depres- sion in the solid rock, with no nesting material except a few feathers of the old bird and small bones and hair of the smaller quadrupeds; also a number of pellets ejected by the old birds. I am certain that both birds occupy the nest- ing cavity at night for there was a de- pression in the end of the cavity which showed signs of being occupied by one of the birds. The nest contained five eggs, rather light in color for the eggs of this species. They have a yellowish-brown appear- anee, the color being almost solid but somewhat darker about the larger ends. The smallest egg in the set measures 2.o3xi.64 inches and the largest 2.?3x x.63. After making a thorough exami- nation of the cavity I thought of getting back on top once more. I had a tin tobacco box with me which would ac- commodate only three of the eggs. so it was entirely useless. It was rather a difficult task in so small a place, but I managed to slip my overshirt off and after wrapping the eggs in what little cotton [ had, [ rolled them in my shirt. During this whole performance I had