194 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



fully outlined, her head and back colouring almost 

 indistinguishable from her nest. A careless ob- 

 server might have looked straight at her and never 

 seen either the bird or her nest. Her position in 

 brooding hid her neck and breast decorations. 

 Among my rare robin studies I should have men- 

 tioned one of a mother bird standing her feathers 

 on end, just as she stepped into her nest to hover 

 her brood, so that the young might lay their heads 

 against the warmth of her bare breast. This 

 study is the only one of its kind I have secured or 

 have seen. 



I always have been particularly pleased over 

 the picture of a hen calling a flock of fluffy little 

 chickens, twenty in number, to the shelter of her 

 wings, a study for which I worked long and hard to 

 illustrate the Biblical passage: "like as a hen ga th- 

 ere th her chickens." 



After much experience with pigeons in cotes 

 extending the length of an old barn on a back lot 

 at Limberlost Cabin, south, I succeeded in securing 

 only one picture of a male bird kissing his mate. 



I always shall regard the pictures of the drunken 

 waxwing, discussed in a previous chapter, as ex- 

 tremely unique and of much interest. 



Among studies of birds uttering their tribal calls, 

 I have one very fine and characteristic crow pic- 

 ture, and I also have a unique study of a crow 

 stealing a lens. I secured this by placing the lens 

 with its shining brass rim in a conspicuous place 



