179 



time when in front of the nest. But as soon as I brought 

 the camera in view she was off like a flash and the trials 

 were over for that day. 



Several more trials on succeeding days got her a little 

 used to the machine and one day I was able to get focussed, 

 draw" the slide from the holder and give an exposure of two 

 seconds^ the result of which is shown in the picture of her 

 sitting on the nest. Her brown eyes twinkled with excite- 

 ment and anxiety but she kept her place and I quietly re- 

 moved the camera and left her. The eggs hatched the next 

 day but I troubled her no more as I could not spare more 

 time for pictures of her, and I doubt if it would have been 

 possible to have gotten them. 



THE IMPOSTOR. 



A happy pair of ]\Iaryland Yellow-throats selected as a 

 place in which to build their house, a spot on the bank of a 

 tiny brook. The male Yellow-throat was a beautiful bird, 

 a gentlebird of leisure and fashion; he had a hand, or at 

 least a voice, in all that went on in the little bird community 

 in which he dwelt. He tried to settle all disputes that arose 

 among the other birds ; his notes of protest were loudest if 

 anyones home was raided or disturbed by bird, mammal or 

 man and he was the watchman of the village, his long, 

 rattling alarm ringing out if any form of danger appeared. 



He flashed here, there and everywhere, his beidy eyes 

 twinkling in their black mask as he peered from the under- 

 brush ; ever and anon he darted to the top of some shrub and 

 his loud, clear "witchery-witchery-witchery" would ring out 

 above the songs of other birds. He encouraged his mate to 

 w^ork her hardest at building their little cup-shaped home, 

 but he did not assist her in any other way. The nest was 

 made of grasses and strips of bark; it was set among the 

 weeds so that the bottom just touched the ground. The in- 

 side was very deep, as is customary among these birds, — so 

 deep that the sitting bird was entirely below the rim. 



