T4 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



A YOUNG BLACKBIRD TWO DAYS BEFORE 

 LEAVING NEST. 



tic duties. Having focussed the cam- 

 era on the nest, I repeated the per- 

 formance of the previous day ; but I 

 had only to wait a comparatively short 

 time, for the bird immediately flew to 

 the nest, this time lighting in full view. 

 I snapped and secured a second like- 

 ness, which to me is one of my best 

 pictures of the bird As the nest was 

 very deep, and only the heads of the 

 young birds would show in a picture, 

 I concluded to wait until they were 

 fully feathered and ready to leave the 

 nest, before photographing them. This 

 meant a period of about twelve days, 

 and during that time I often waited by 

 the hour with my camera focussed on 

 the nest, hoping to secure a study of 

 the male bird. 



What a fitting picture he made in 

 the landscape, perched either on the 

 old wooden fence, which bordered one 

 side of the swamp, or swaying back 

 and forth on a cat-tail ! But not once 

 during the time I had worked about 

 the ne>^t did he approach within fifty 

 feet of it. He did not appear disturbed 

 or frightened in the least, but evident- 

 ly he took small part in the rearing of 

 his family. 



When it was almost time for the 

 young to leave their nest, there came a 

 rainstorm of three days' duration. On 

 the fourth day it cleared, and in the 



afternoon I went to the swamp, only 

 to find the nest empty ; and although I 

 searched in vain, not one young black- 

 bird from that nest could be found. 



\\'ithin forty feet of the nest I had 

 been working on, I located another, 

 which contained one young bird. Its 

 feathers were not fully developed, but 

 not caring to take another chance with 

 the weather, I carefully placed him on 

 the top rail of the old fence and pho- 

 tographed him. It is to be regretted 

 that I did not have two more to place 

 lieside him, but this is only a small 

 circumstance in the many disappoint- 

 ments encountered by the "bird pho- 

 tographer." 



The red-winged blackbird occasion- 

 ;illy places its nest in alder and wild 

 rose bushes, bordering a swamp or 

 >tream; but the majority are placed 

 among cat-tails, in swamps. 



Just why the bird most frequently 

 selects this location I do not know, 

 but doubtless instinct teaches them, 

 that there in the swamp, the nest care- 

 fully hidden among the rushes, with 

 often three or four feet of water be- 

 neath, they are safe from four-footed 

 as well as two-footed enemies. 



Birds of New York. 



r>v special arrangement, the Massa- 

 chusetts Audubon Society, 234 Berkeley 

 Street, Boston, is able to furnish the 

 complete set of the plates of the Birds of 

 Xew York for 57 cents postpaid to any 

 address in the first or second zone. These 

 are complete, just as found in- this in- 

 v;duable book. They figure in color every 

 bird — land or water- -that flies over the 

 State, done on a heavy coated paper 9 x 

 12 in size. There are io5 of these plates 

 and they are enclosed in a neat and ser- 

 viceable portfolio, the whole in a card- 

 board box. 



The total cost is 57 cents, and the op- 

 portunity for bird-lovers is unique. 



Tropical Humming Birds. 



A London ornithologist has been 

 keeping tropical humming birds alive 

 in special steam-heated cages in which 

 grow orchids to provide nectar for 

 their food. When the supply of nectar 

 fails, the birds are fed on a mixture of 

 honey, sponge cake, crumbs, and in- 

 fant's food. 



