BIRDS WITH A HANDICAP 



to the chick, she also continued the meal with other 

 food from the store below. Meanwhile the other little 

 fellow would appear terribly disappointed. Then the 

 shutter would click and she w'ould dart aw^ay, but we 

 may believe that the next time she knew enough to feed 

 the other chick. 



I had only one more shot that afternoon, and then 

 the sun sank behind the tops of the forest. In the 

 little clearing* the light only served from eleven to four 

 o'clock, and the next day I gave this space of time to 

 the work. At first I moved the nest lower down and 

 secured even better pictures of the young than I had 

 done the day before. Just as I had made the last 

 exposure which I desired, the old bird began to buzz 

 around. One of the young became very uneasy. It 

 stirred about in the nest and began to whir its wings. 

 At first this had no effect, but presently the wings took 

 hold upon the air, and the little one floated upward as 

 slowly and gently as a feather and reached a branch a 

 dozen feet from the ground. I tried to catch it and put 

 it back, but only made it fly up higher into the forest, 

 and I saw it no more, though at times I could hear its 

 little insect-like chirp. 



The nest was now in shadow, so I moved it a few 

 yards out into open sunlight and set the camera. 

 Presently the mother bird returned, but did not see the 

 nest and went off. Time dragged by and she did not 

 return. Alarmed and remorseful I put the nest back 

 close to its former location. The sun's rays came to it, 



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