190 HOMING ^YITH THE BIRDS 



position brought his left eye in outline; while 

 between his open mandibles the position of his 

 tongue in uttering his cry could be seen. 



Two other jay pictures which I prize very highly 

 for sentimental reasons are a pair of studies of a 

 mother bird more closely paralleling human proc- 

 esses than any other bird picture which it has 

 been my lot to secure or to see among the pic- 

 tures of other field workers. I had a clear view 

 of this nest. The bird was unusually beautiful. 

 She persisted in brooding, with a calm and tranquil 

 expression, even when the camera approached 

 her to within less than ten feet. While I watched 

 her from a blind at the end of sixty feet of hose 

 one day, one of her young thrust its bare little 

 head between the feathers of her breast, resting 

 its chin on the edge of the nest; and in this position 

 it went to sleep and so remained for some time — 

 long enough at least that I had made the exposure, 

 changed the plates, and returned to my position, 

 before it lifted its head, opened its beak, and asked 

 to be fed. This position I also secured. 



Another favourite study of mine is almost a 

 perfect likeness of five young shrikes. I can not 

 claim that there is anything particularly rare from 

 a scientific standpoint in a study of young birds, 

 which have been handled, taken from and returned 

 to their nest until they will allow themselves to 

 be placed in any position; but certainly, rarely 

 beautiful pictures with wonderful art value may 



