RARE PICTURES AFIELD 165 



I have made many series of pictures quite com- 

 plete in historical value of the homes of most of our 

 birds, but nevpr a series to equal this one of the 

 cardinals, which I carried to the farthest extent 

 I possibly could on account of writing an entire 

 book concerning one pair of birds. It will be 

 easy for any naturalist, examining the pictures, 

 to see that the birds are not the same pair through- 

 out the illustration, although the story represents 

 them to be. 



A number of these pictures are not reproduc- 

 tions of our common Indiana redbird, but of the 

 larger, brighter redbird of Kansas and Iowa, 

 which for some reason had strayed into the Limber- 

 lost, found him a mate, and homed there for a 

 season. He was an old bird of bloody red plum- 

 age, jetty beard, and having had so much associa- 

 tion with man that he showed almost contempt 

 for the cameras introduced into his vicinity. 

 After a few days spent in becoming accustomed to 

 me, he went about his affairs in utter disregard 

 of my cameras, very frequently perching on them 

 in leaving the nest, which he made a practice of 

 entering from one direction, although he left it as 

 the spirit moved him. This is a habit pertaining to 

 all birds with which I ever have worked. 



What is probably as good, if not the best, like- 

 ness of a bird I ever made afield, I got through 

 this characteristic. I had my camera focused on 

 the nest of a pair of kingbirds to which both of the 



