RARE PICTURES AFIELD 167 



curiosity Jie undoubtedly was experiencing as to 

 what the camera was, and why the strange object 

 had moved sin^e his latest trip to the nest. 



I regard a picture of a male bird brooding or 

 standing guard on the edge of the nest as a real 

 triumph; carrying food to his mate so that both 

 old birds are included in the picture comes next; 

 and third I would place a good picture of a male 

 bird feeding his young, although it frequently 

 happens that, with a camera focused on a nest, I 

 have pictured both birds attending to the young 

 at the same time. 



Among my oriole pictures, I have made one 

 that stands preeminent. In the first place the 

 nest was very large, finely woven mostly of what 

 I call natural material. Plant fibre and hair com- 

 prised the entire purse part of the nest with the 

 exception of a long piece of cotton cord and one 

 white carpet rag, which formed the anchorage at 

 one side. The cord ran across the top of the nest, 

 wound three or four times around a limb, then was 

 tucked in and tied at the other end. It was car- 

 ried perhaps an inch higher than the full length 

 of the nest, where it was tightly lashed, fastened, 

 and reinforced with plant fibre. The whole nest 

 was very light in colour, silver grey and white. 

 When I made this exposure the young were old 

 snough that their open beaks were lifted above the 

 edge of the nest when they stood for feeding. The 

 male bird flew into the tree. He alighted on the 



