^°^:i2^"] Camera Craft. . 67 



Camera Craft 



The Dusky Wood-Swallow — From Egg to Bird. — On the 



29th November I spent half a day at the nest of a Dusky Wood- 

 Swallow {Artainus cyaiiop/enis) at Ringwood. Two days 

 earlier Mr. h. G. Chandler had located the nest, which then 

 contained three eggs. When I arrived at the spot at mid-day 

 on the 29th, the nest contained one young bird and still three 

 eggs. One additional egg, larger and lighter in colour than the 

 others, had been laid in the meantime. 



At the first visit I found the female bird much more trustful 

 than is usual with Wood-Swallows. She showed little hesita- 

 tion in visiting her nest while the camera was 20 inches away. 

 Probably this was due to the advanced state of incubation of 

 the eggs. On the second occasion the female bird showed still 

 greater anxiety, and I allowed her to sit undisturbed while I 

 w^aited for the male to bring food to her on the nest. This 

 little service he had performed two or three times previously, 

 and I particularly desired to make a record of it. 



But when he came near she took it as a signal to have a spell, 

 and allowed him to feed the young bird. I watched the eggs 

 closely during the next quarter of an hour, and moved a few- 

 feet away when the female came back. Up till that time there 

 w^as no sign of chipping, but the female stood on the edge of 

 the nest and pecked carefully at one of the original eggs. Very 

 soon the shell was in two pieces, and between these sections I 

 could see a second young bird struggling. Then the mother 

 carefully pushed one portion of the egg clear of the new ar- 

 rival, took the shell in her beak and flew away with it, dropping 

 it fifty yards away. I was so interested in the incident that I 

 quite forgot to expose a plate. The head and shoulders of the 

 young bird were still in the remaining part of the shell (the 

 wide end), which adhered to its shoulders. On her rrUu'n the 

 adult bird made no attempt to remove this portion of egg-shell, 

 but settled very carefully on the nest again. 



After a quarter of an hour I roused her and found that the 

 young bird was then free, though head and shoulders were still 

 in the egg. On her return the female again pushed the shell 

 aside, and took it in her beak. But this time I was ready, and 

 before she carried it away I exposed a plate. Unfortunately 

 the plate had been in the camera for nearly an hour, and was 

 badly light struck. The wind had also moved the camera 

 slightly, and had interfered with the focussing. 



The young bird was hatched at about 1.30 p.m., and, up till 

 4.30 p.m. had not been fed. The other young bird, which I 

 judged to have hatched the da}- before, was fed six times dur- 

 ing the same period. — R. T. Littlfjottxs, R.A.O.U., Melbourne. 



