THE OSPREY. 



53 



June. I came again the next day, and the com- 

 panion egg lav beside its mate. After photo- 

 graphing' the eggs in situ, I took them for my 

 cabinet. In ten days, (June Kith,) it was but the 

 work of a few minutes to flush the bird from a 

 similar spot, near another brush heap in the 

 scrub, about fifty yards from the first location, 

 where two fresh eggs lay upon the dry leaves. 



The other bird, probably the male, I found, 

 whenever I visited the place, dozing on that 

 same log. The ground beside it was well deco- 

 rated with droppings and stray feathers. The 

 bird would invariably return to the log as soon 

 as I withdrew. 



Wondering whether the pair would be con- 

 stant in their affection for the locality, and 

 return to it another season. I visited the spot 



near the ground by means of a screw-bolt and 

 ball and socket clamp, propped the whole with 

 sticks, making ready for an exposure of one-half 

 second, with wide open lens. Then having pre- 

 viously attached the tube, covering all but the 

 lens with brush. I withdrew, carrying- the end 

 of the tube and bulb with me to the open field, 

 to which it would just reach. 



I went elsewhere for an hour, then crept cau- 

 tiously into the woods, and at length stood up 

 on the tree-trunk, about ten yards from the nest. 

 At first I could discern neither bird nor eggs. 

 But after careful study, with the aid of the field- 

 glass, I made out the form of the bird, wonder- 

 fully harmonizing with the surroundings, ap- 

 parently asleep upon the nest, her head drawn 

 back upon her shoulders. So I withdrew, went 



FIG. 3.— THE Willi' POOR WILL'S NEST. 



next year on the 1st day of June. The bird was 

 not near the first site, but hardly had I ap- 

 proached the other than away she went, not out 

 of sight, as before, but to the prostrate trunk 

 of a great tree near by. that had been blown 

 down during the winter. There were the two 

 eggs on the dry leaves, shaded more by shrub- 

 bery than before, on the otherside of the brush- 

 heap, not ten yards from the old site. 



This year my ambition did not stop at photo- 

 graphing nests, and I must fain try for a pic- 

 ture of the Whip-poor-will herself. After due 

 consideration of the problem. I leaned a frag- 

 ment of a broken limb against the crotch of a 

 sapling, tied it steady, screwed the camera to it 



around to the bulb, and squeezed it. The bird 

 flew only as I went to the camera. There was 

 no time for me to stay longer for another ex- 

 posure, so I drove home, and developed the plate 

 that night. To my great disappointment, it 

 was hopelessly under-exposed, and the most 

 careful examination did not disclose anything 

 that resembled a Whip-poor-will. 



After photographing the Night Hawk, as 

 above, three days later I drove around to try 

 the Whip-poor-will again. She was at home, 

 and I set the camera up very close to the nest, 

 adopting the same plan as before, but setting 

 the shutter for its longest automatic release, one 

 second. The sky was clear, moreover, while 



