?4 2 THE CONDOR [ VOL VIII tion to'the chick under her uose. who had now grown too xveak to even squirm. He seemed nothing more to her than the shell by her side. I knew the chick would die if he were uot warmed immediately, so I climbed around to the front door of the cave and tried to make the mother move over and hover her nestling. '[`his would not work so I reached in and got the youngster again and he was chilled thru, and with our cold hands we could give him little warmth. As a last remedy we held him close iu to our warm bodies, and after a little while. he began to squirm again as the warmth seemed to revive him. At that instant, I looked up and saw the male condor soaring above and dropping lower and lower. My lieart sank for a moment as I felt like crouching down and crawling under cover. But reaching for nLv tripod as a weapon of defence, I stood there while the big bird swung around ? only a few yards above our heads and lit on the perch of the dead piue about -? forty feet away. He sat there with ? wings out-stretched and watching us I closely. It made us crouch closer be- hind the bushes to have a bird of such ? size so near above and threatening to pollnce lipoll US at all)' ulonlellt. , x? But we soou saw that he had no inten- ? tion of fightlug. , ?x All the time we were in great doubt ? - ? as to whether the mother would accept ? her chick again if he were revived. ? ' She sat there all the while with her ?,?., head down watching thru the ?revice. As soon as the young bird revived so .?, he could kick about, I crawled dowu ? near the nest and thrust my arm clear in till I ahnost touched her ? nose and put the chick down before her. Then I slid back down the rock. It was a moment of intense anxiety for me: if she did not take the chick to her, it meaut his death as OLD CONDOR ON TREE-PERCH NEAR NEST_ FEATHERS well as all end to all our dreams of RUFFLED UP AeOUT NECI? IN USUAL ATTITUDE getting a life series of pictures of this rare bird. For an instant she paid no attention to him, but just then he began to stir and xx?iggle. Her eyes chauged from their vacant stare: she suddenly seemed to recognize her uestliug, and putting her bill down she drew him gently near, crouching down at the same time and finally drawing him under her breast. We felt very much relieved at this and hurriedly taking ottr camera, we started back dowu_the mountain leaving the pair of big birds aud their nestling. '['lie rain had continued till everything was soaked. Wading thru the brush, we were soon wet thru and then after the climb up to the trail again, ?ve had the worst part to traverse, for the path was thru the high bushes, each of which held a shower of drops. But we had five plates any one of which, if it were good, would pay for a thirty-five mile trip into the mountains, ,_-red better still we had the hope of getting more in the future. .Portland, Oregon.
