36o 



Bird - Lore 



are left after September i, north of the 

 39th parallel. We are near the 44th. — 

 Victoria M. Dill, Wabasha, Minn. 



Photograph of a Hummingbird on 

 the Wing 



On June 5, 1914, I photographed a 

 Hummingbird on her nest with a Grafiex 

 camera, by standing on a step-ladder. 

 The incubation period was about at an 

 end, and the mother bird persistently re- 

 turned to the nest. The photograph of the 

 bird sitting still was readily obtained. I 

 then arranged a mirror to reflect an excess 

 of direct sunlight upon the nest, set the 

 shutter at its fastest speed, and snapped 

 the bird about twenty times as she flitted 

 to and fro behind the nest. I tried to photo- 

 graph her while she was at a distance from 

 the nest, but, by the time the shutter would 

 snap, she would be behind the nest. If I 

 had tried to snap her while she was behind 

 the nest, I should probably have obtained 

 a photograph of her a foot or so away from 

 the nest. I obtained five pictures, show- 

 ing the wings clearly and distinctly. 



The bird on the wing appears to be 

 alighting on the nest, for the camera was 

 pointed upward at an angle of about 30 



degrees. She is really behind the nest, and 

 flying upward with great speed. 



The photograph was taken with an 

 eight-inch Zeiss protar lens, at its full 



RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD ON 



NEST 



HUMMINGBIRD APPROACHING NEST 



opening, in about one fifteen-hundredth 

 of a second. — Frank Overtow, Patch- 

 ogiie, N. V. 



The Building of a Robin's Nest 



I read with much interest the article in 

 the September-October, 1913, issue of 

 Bird-Lore on "The Building of a Robin's 

 Nest" and bethought me of my own obser- 

 vations at Port Sanilac Michigan, April 

 28, 1907. 



To quote from my notes, "I have just 

 been watching a lady Robin building her 

 nest over the front door. I stood on a step- 

 ladder next to the door, on the inside of 

 the house, with my face at the frosted- 

 pattern glass not ten inches from the bird. 

 Last year's foundation was in place, but 

 she has replastered it and is now carrying 

 soft, dead, lawn grass. She alights on the 

 edge of the nest with a mouthful, drops it 

 in, hops on top of it, and sq.uats down 

 with the ends sticking up all around her. 

 At once she lowers her tail over the nest's 

 edge for a support, braces her wings 

 against the inside of the nest, and throws 

 her weight onto her breast. Then she 

 begins a perfect tattoo with her feet 

 against the sides and the bottom. After 

 ten to fourteen kicks, she rests a moment, 

 turns a little, tucks down a few grasses 

 with her bill, and repeats the performance. 



