MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



before it vanished in the distance, so quickly had it 

 recovered in fresh air and sunshine. 



I have undertaken to describe some very difficult 

 things, but I would not attempt to portray my feelings, 

 and three days later there was no change. It was in 

 the height of my season of field work, and I had several 

 extremely interesting series of bird studies on hand, and 

 many miscellaneous subjects. In those days some pic- 

 tures were secured that I then thought, and yet feel, 

 will live, but nothing mattered to me. There was a 

 standing joke among my friends that I never would be 

 satisfied wdth my field v,ork until I had made a study of a 

 "Ha-ha bird," but I doubt if even that specimen would 

 have lifted the gloom of those days. Everything was a 

 drag, and frequently I would think over it all in detail, 

 and roundly bless myself for taking a prize so rare, to me 

 at least, into the open. 



The third day stands lurid in my memory. It was the 

 hottest, most difficult day of all my years of experience 

 afield. The temperature ranged from 104 to 108 in the 

 village, and in quarries open to the east, flat fields, and 

 steaming swamps it certainly could have been no cooler. 

 With set cameras I was working for a shot at a hawk 

 that was feeding on all the young birds and rabbits in 

 the vicinity of its nest. 1 also w^anted a number of 

 studies to fill a commission that was pressing me. Sul)- 

 jects for several pictures had been found, and exposures 



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