194 HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



holder. Instead of simply photographing the nest 

 and eggs, my plan was to have the old bird in the 

 picture as well. So I tied my thread to the shutter, 

 and dropped the spool to the ground. Then I re- 

 moved the slide from the plate, and covered the cam- 

 era with the dull green cloth, decking it further with 

 sprays of green hemlock. 



Last of all, making sure that the lens was not cov- 

 ered, I set the shutter for an exposure of one-half 

 second, at full aperture, as the nest was in light shade, 

 and in the descent was careful not to touch the 

 thread and spring the shutter. Finding the spool, I 

 passed the thread behind a small branch, so that the 

 pull on the shutter would be directly downward, and 

 laid out the thread carefully for about a gunshot to 

 my umbrella-tent, which I had previously pitched be- 

 fore approaching the nest. I put the spool in 

 through the peek-hole, then tramped noisily out of 

 the woods, and presently sneaked back quietly into 

 the tent. 



For half an hour or more all was silent. Then 

 the hawk began to scream and fly around. Inspecting 

 the new situation. Finally she alighted on the edge 

 of her nest, and stood there motionless, looking and 

 listening. This was my opportunity, and gradually, 

 without jerking, I pulled the thread taut. The 

 hawk was not alarmed at the slight grating of the 

 shutter, though she turned her head after It had 

 closed, and entered the nest. I let her stay there 

 awhile to become confident, and then flushed her by 



