46 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



FTG. 4. AX Or.D BOX TORTOTSK. 



This was nearly complete, and thus 

 saved me some trouble in another direc- 

 tion which I need not mention now. 



FTG. 5. THF. GREAT HORNFD OWL. 



As I am preparing" a work on the nat- 

 ural history of this region, we allow 

 nothing to escape us, and with my cam- 

 era, during the past few seasons, I have 

 made two or three hundred most beauti- 

 ful negatives, photographs from which 

 will be used as illustrations to the forth- 

 coming manual. 



The ornithology of the country is 

 most interesting", and is now very thor- 

 oughly protected by the recent bird laws. 

 This has preserved even some of the 

 largest raptorial birds, and on the river 

 one occasionally sees the white-headed 

 eagle soaring majestically overhead, 

 while in the timbered sections I have 

 sometimes met with the great horned 

 owl — the young" and old of this species 

 being here shown in Figures 5 and 6, 

 captive specimens which I photographed 

 for my work. 



Down in the marshes we have the 

 noisy little marsh wrens, which build 

 nests out of the cat-tail leaves in com- 

 munities, each having the form of a co- 

 coanut, with a hole at the side for an 

 entrance. They also build here and there 

 "mock-nests," apparently with the hope 

 that their enemies, in hunting^ for nests 

 containing their eggs, might, in coming 

 across these, become discouraged or per- 

 haps think that all the nests in sight 

 were deceptions, and so give up their 

 search. Unfortunately, this little scheme 

 rarely succeeds. Snakes get many of 

 their" eggs, especially those found in and 



