64 



THE OSPREY. 



before the light was dull. This time I peered 

 from the log- after twenty minutes had elapsed, 

 and there was the bird, as before, side to the 

 camera. Whether or not this exposure was 

 successful, the reader may judge. (Fig. 4). At 

 first I thought it was not, for it was some time 



Night Hawks and Whip-poor-wills; but two 

 days after the last recorded events. I started for 

 the Magdalen Islands, and did not return till 

 after the youngsters were all a-wing. 



These pictures will throw light upon a mooted 

 point in bird and animal photography, as to 



Fig. J.— THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. 



before I could distinguish the head of the bird 

 in the negative, drawn far back on the shoulders, 

 the eye half closed. 



I arranged the camera for another trial, but 

 the bird sat a few feet from the nest, hesitating 

 to return, and meanwhile it was sundown, so I 

 removed the danger, and left my good friend 

 her eggs. The male was not seen at either visit 

 at his accustomed roost, and the presence of 

 numerous Whip-poor-will feathers scattered 

 about (near the log) made me fearful that he 

 had just fallen a prey to some maraudings bird 

 or beast. 



I regret that I cannot make this little chapter 

 complete by adding- the pictures of the young 



whether a dull, lustreless eye in a supposed life- 

 picture may properly create doubt as to its gen- 

 uineness. I have found it to be entirely owing 

 to variations of light as to whether an eye takes 

 well or not. In my two Night Hawk pictures 

 the eye might well have been a shoe-button, as 

 far as appearance is concerned, while in the 

 case of the Whip-poor-will the eye is perfect. 

 The latter was taken in the shade, the former 

 under a hazy, but open sky. The whole thing 

 may be a matter of the poise of the head, of a 

 gleam or a shadow, over which the photogra- 

 pher has no control. 



