THE OSPREY. 



61 



of the head that the bird performs. It 

 seemed to the writer that he had the 

 habit of sinking his head slowly down 

 between his shoulders, at a rate no faster 

 than about a millimeter per second, but 

 even that is sufficient to ruin your picture 

 if you fail to notice it during- the time of 

 exposure. 



In the second plate here offered we have 

 the reproduction of a photograph of a 

 living- male specimen of the Cedar Bird 

 {Ampelis ccdronini ). This is taken about 

 natural size, and the 

 back of the bird is 

 towards the beholder, 

 it having- assumed 

 an attitude that it 

 often does when rest- 

 ing- after a hearty 

 repast. When thus 

 perched, with both 

 head and crest lower- 

 ed, the bird will thus 

 sit for as much as an 

 hour at a time. Fre- 

 quently they are seen 

 to do this in na- 

 ture, when suddenly 

 the flock will revive; 

 preen themselves; 

 and quickly, by unan- 

 imous impulse, take 

 off in sudden flig-ht, 

 to the nearest point 

 where ripe berries of 

 almost any variety 

 abound, and then pro- 

 ceed to g"org-e them- 

 selves in their usual 

 voracious manner. 



TUKKEY VULTUKE (FROM LIFE. 



Pho tog-raphs of 

 this bird, as well as of 

 the female and young- 

 have been made by 



the writer at different times. In his col- 

 lection are to be found pictures of this 

 description exhibiting- the species in 

 nearly all of its attitudes. The young- 

 have been obtained in the peculiar atti- 

 tudes they assume at about the time they 

 leave the nest. Every one who knows 

 them have noticed the bolt uprig-ht way 

 they sit with their heads and necks 

 stretched out in a straig-ht line with their 

 bodies, and the whole crew as motionless 

 as statues. 



Old Cedar Birds have the same habit, 

 and in my collection I have also a picture 

 g-iving- the male and female upon the 

 same plate, where the latter is thus posed. 

 From this circumstance she appears to be 

 fully an inch long-er than the male in the 

 picture. 



If it be a difficult matter to obtain g-ood 

 photog-raphs of full-g-rown birds, it is 

 even more so in the case of nestling-s and 

 subadult individuals. This is due in part 

 to their extreme restlessness; almost con- 

 stant chirping-; and 

 to the fact that to 

 make an interesting- 

 plate we should have 

 two or more birds in 

 it. Space here will 

 not admit of my g-iv- 

 ing- all the difficulties 

 that are sure to con- 

 front the photog-ra- 

 pher when he comes 

 to undertake to 

 make a picture of a 

 nest full of young- 

 birds. Their eter- 

 nal panting-; their 

 twisting- and turn- 

 ing-, and g'aping-, and 

 squeaking- — first one 

 and then another, 

 a n d t h e n all to- 

 g-ether, areenoug-h to 

 madden him, to say 

 nothing- about his 

 discourag-ement. Oft- 

 en a half a box of 

 the best plates will 

 be expended, with 

 three - fourths o f a 

 day's steady labor, 

 before a nest with a 

 brood of young- 

 Warblers can be secured. 



Still the writer has made many of these 

 and hopes to be able to make many more. 

 Among- the best of my results is the 

 nest and young- of the Yellow-breasted 

 Chat, taken last spring-, and this has been 

 selected as an illustration here, of this 

 difficultkindof work. The nest was found 

 lig-htly placed among- the twig-s of a 

 young- dog-wood, and the picture shows it 

 in situ, without the removal of a sing-le 

 leaf or twig-. Two of the young- dozed 

 away on the nest's rim ; they are full 



