PROFESSIONAL FLY-CATCHING 



focused, put in the plate, removed the slide, attached 

 the thread, set the shutter, and made the exposure when 

 the birds were feeding. One that he got was especially 

 fine, showing very plainly the dragon fly with its long 

 gauzy wings held by the bill of the male, and "getting" 

 the whole family at one shot. 



To my great satisfaction no one molested the King- 

 birds, though everyone in the neighborhood knew of 

 the curiosity. I saw them the afternoon before they 

 left the nest for good. The little fellows looked very 

 pretty with their snow-white little shirts, standing up 

 on the post with their mother beside them, and I got a 

 snapshot of them thus with my reflecting camera as I 

 walked along the road past them. With some difficulty 

 I obtained another picture as the father fed them, but 

 the old birds were shier of the camera now, and the 

 young were not fed so often. I praised the boys for 

 not disturbing the nice family and promised each of 

 them a picture. 



Nearly everyone knows how boldly the Kingbirds 

 defend their nests and has seen them chase the thieving 

 crows, flying at them from above and pecking them 

 sorely as they try vainly to escape. They even keep 

 off hawks from the farmer's premises and destroy such 

 a multitude of insects that it is a fine thing to have a 

 pair of them located in the orchard. So indignant are 

 they when anyone comes near the nest that I have 

 taken advantage of this to snap them with my reflecting 

 camera. I use a single "22-inch" lens of my eleven- 



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