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Bird -Lore 



straw, a few pebbles or other handy materials satisfies their ambition. 

 In the bare, exposed situation usually chosen, such a nest, with 

 its four spotted eggs, is much less conspicuous than would be 

 a well made one. The first of our pictures showed one of these 

 nests located in a cornfield, which is a not very uncommon 

 site, although bare pasture knolls and gravelly banks are more 

 usually selected. The photograph of the nest and eggs was, of 

 course, easily secured, and is chiefly of interest because it shows 

 so well how an open nest with its eggs may be protected by blend- 

 ing perfectly with the general color of the immediate surroundings — 

 protective coloration, as it is called. To secure the portrait of the 



wary old Killdeer, who left the nest the instant anyone but entered 

 the large field, seemed a hopeless task. But the novice is ever 

 ambitious, and the attempt was made in the following fashion, with 

 what success the accompanying pictures will show. Placing the 

 camera on the sharply tilted tripod, so that the distance from lens 

 to nest was about four feet, the dreadful looking object was left in 

 position' for some time on the evening preceding the day on which 

 the photographs were taken. The next day proved light and clear, 

 and with the sun well up in the heavens we began operations, my 

 companion and assistant on this occasion being Rev. H. W. 

 Gleason, a bird enthusiast undaunted by any obstacle and fertile 



