California Condor Eben McMullan 25 October 1963 A Coyote was heard calling in the distance about 4:00 A.M. At daylight several short-eared owls yapped nearby. I squeaked and immediately three of these owls hovered close over my bed. I repeated the squeak again after the owls had left and the three owls immediately returned and hovered above me, one coming so close that I could have reached up and grabbed it. The hearing of this species must be very highly developed. These owls would be attracted to my squeeks until the daylight progressed whereby horned larks, meadow larks, and savannah sparrows commenced to sing. At this point the owls returned no more to my squeeks. A ferruginous rough-legged hawk came and perched on a post about 300 feet from my camp at sunrise. Two Golden Eagles came from the mountains to the east and soared low over the fields heading north west at 7:40 A.M. Henry McLeudy came by at 7:50 A.M. and had coffee with me. He had served notice on W.E. Nichols, one of his patrolman, this morning, that his services would no longer be needed. Mr. McLeudy felt that Mr. Nichols was spending too much time taking his friends hunting as of much use to the Patrolling Cause. Henry thought that most hunters on the Tujon were as a class, much more responsible than the general public would be. Nevertheless, even so, he would hesitate to [illegible] that a Condor would be safe within their range of shooting. At 10:05 A.M., while driving from the old Tujon Ranch buildings to the foothills southwest about two miles I saw nine condors rise up out of a shallow valley and circle for some time before scattering. It was not easy to get a count on this group of birds as —