78 Bird -Lore 



were in nearly all al this time, they would raise their heads and set up a great 

 squawking, crowding and fighting each other and making noises like the bark- 

 ing of a puppy and a whole litter of little hungry pigs. The old birds never 

 seemed to notice them, however, and they soon subsided and settled back in 

 the nest. 



The old bird would stand motionless for a long, long time, then, with great 

 deliberation, walk down the branch to the nest. When the parent reached the 

 nest the young would take her bill in theirs and try to pull her down. She 

 usually stood a long time with her head up before feeding the young, then 

 would drop her head when a young one would take her bill into its own as she 

 gave up the food. At other times she would regurgitate the food into the nest 

 and the young would pick it up. 



The two nests nearest to me remained empty, their owners coming around 

 many times but each time wheeling and going away again until I began to 

 fear that they would not alight while I was there. Below me the Water 

 Thrushes and Redstarts were singing, and a Great-crested Flycatcher cried 

 out from his perch on the dead top of a tree. Occasionally I would glimpse a 

 Scarlet Tanager as he flashed by through the trees beneath me; Downy and 

 Hairy Woodpeckers and Flickers were working on nearby stubs. Two Mallard 

 Ducks flew over, and a Red-eyed Vireo sang his querulous song. All this was 

 very interesting, but standing with one's full weight on one's climber-spurs 

 and holding twelve pounds of camera is not very comfortable, to say the least, 

 and after I had endured it for over two hours and was thinking of going down, a 

 bird came flapping along to the lower nest and — click — she was mine as she 

 sailed up to her perch on a limb beside the nest. Almost at once the other bird 

 came and alighted on a limb above the upper nest. After the usual wait she 

 walked slowly down the limb to the nest, and with my last plate I got my best 

 picture, two nests and a bird standing at each. 



