THE UMBBELLA TENT 45 



part of the natural landscape, confidence is restored, and 

 the actions of the birds at the nest become true to their 

 usual habits. The alarm, when the tent is first erected, 

 bidding the young birds to ''lay low" and keep quiet, is 

 soon replaced by the assurance that all is safe. The 

 youngsters resume their positions at the festive board, 

 with gaping mouths ready to be fed, while in the tent 

 the photographer in joyous anticipation awaits the return 

 of the feeding parents. Every call and response may be 

 distinctly heard and the minutest details of the feeding 

 and brooding or the cleaning of the nest, are plainly 

 seen and recorded by the camera. 



When the nest containing the young is in a location 

 where it cannot be photographed — as the perch of a Ked- 

 winged Blackbird anchored to cattails in deep water, or 

 a muddy bottom, or the basket of an Oriole swinging on a 

 limb too high for the tent — the nest with its natural sur- 

 roundings may be moved to a nearby and suitable locality 

 in which the work can be carried on from the tent. The 

 original natural surroundings should be preserved as 

 nearly as possible if the picture is to be of much value. 



A canvas background should never be used. A fresh 

 bunch of natural foliage is preferable. The moving of 

 the nest should be resorted to only in extreme cases as 

 the foliage soon withers after being cut and thus leaves 

 the young exposed to the sun and rain. 



When it has been photographed, the nest should he 

 returned near its former position and securely anchored 

 in a shaded spot. The parent birds soon find the nest 

 in its new location and renew their feeding and brooding 

 as though the nest had not been disturbed or moved. 



In the absence of the tent an improvised blind will be 

 of much help. This may be either a pit dug in a bank 

 or the ground, or the material at hand, as grasses, green 

 leaves of the palmetto or ferns. All these substitutes, 

 however, are hard to erect or devise and are not so effi- 

 cient as the tent. If two persons go to the tent and one 

 enters and remains hidden while the other retires, the 

 watching birds, unable to count two, decide that the tent 

 is vacant and soon return to the nest. 



