NORTHWARD WITH THE SHORE-BIRDS 227 



I had lost the tripod screw. Not to be beaten, I cut down 

 with my knife a small spruce, made a stake, and drove it into 

 the ground near the nest. With my tree-apparatus I clamped 

 the camera to the stake and was ready for business, the first 

 part of which was to attempt the picture of the mother-bird on 

 the nest. The camera was properly focused and screened 

 with spruce boughs ; then, with a thread in hand, attached at 

 the other end to the shutter, I lay fiat on my face, peering 

 over a dune, and waited. Poor little bird, she did not like 

 the look of this blunderbuss with staring eye any more than 

 we should that of a cannon trained upon our front door. 



LEAST SANDPIPER ON NEST 



