HUNTING BIRDS WITH CAMERA 



how to work. In the morning I would hide the camera 

 among the debris of the upturned tree near the nest. 

 I would leave it out and return about noon to pull the 

 thread, allowing ten or fifteen seconds' exposure. In 

 this way I secured the best of all my pictures of the 

 Ruffed Grouse. 



In early autumn the young of the year have a curious 

 habit of flying blindly into all sorts of places. The 

 theory has been advanced that these are the profligate 

 young men of the tribe, off on drunken sprees; that 

 they eat too freely of poke-berries, or other fruit, and 

 thereby become intoxicated. Of this there is no certain 

 proof. Perhaps they are trying to escape from hawks, 

 or get bewildered in their wanderings. At any rate 

 they do it and I have observed, or been told of, various 

 instances. Once I found one in my church cellar, and 

 recently one dashed against the window of a neighbor's 

 house and fell dazed to the piazza. It was brought to 

 me and for a month I kept it in a hen-coop to study and 

 photograph. It ate freely of berries and green corn, 

 strutted about, saying *'quit, quit," like a turkey, now 

 and then making a purring sound, like a sitting hen, 

 and some whining noises. After a time I sent it to 

 Bronx Park, New York City, where afterward I saw it 

 in one of the pheasant pens. 



Ned was not on hand for the grouse shooting just 

 described, but has seen enough to become enthusiastic 

 over this sort of game hunting. As for myself, I have 

 shot the game birds both with gun and camera and, 



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