rilE WILD BIRD AT ARM'S LENGTH. 



205 



window, whicli is now ojjfn in tlio tent-front, and of the glass eye of 

 the camera gleaming through it, but the lens is also silent and motion- 

 less, and soon becomes a familiar object to be finally disregarded. 

 Again there is the fear which the sound of the shutter, a sharp metallic 

 cliclc, at first inspires, unless you are the fortunate possessor of an abso- 

 lutely silent and rapid shutter. At its first report, when two feet away, 

 many birds will jump as if shot, give an angry scream, and even fly 

 at the tent as if to exorcise an evil spirit, while after a few hours they 

 will only wince; finally they will not budge a feather at this or any 



Fig. 6. The Brown Thrush, standing on his Nest, has heard an Unusual Sound and is 



listening intently. 



other often repeated sound, whether from shutter, steam whistle, 

 locomotive or the human voice. 



It is the young, the young, always the young in whom the interest 

 of the old birds is centered, and about whom their lives revolve. They 



