1518 



Journal of Applied Microscopy 



upon chance in getting a picture of the nesting scenes. Most land birds depend 

 upon concealment for protection from their enemies during the season of young. 

 Their nests are apt to be shrouded in grass or foliage, and, if easily ap- 

 proached, are usually inaccessible to the camera. If the nest is in a high bush 

 or tree, the difificulties of the position and light are usually an effectual bar to 

 obtaining good pictures, to say nothing of seeing what takes place. When the 

 nest is near the ground, or upon it, and in a well lighted spot, conditions which 

 are rarely fulfilled, it has been customary to set up the camera, and attaching a 

 long rubber tube or thread to the shutter, to retire to a distance and wait for the 

 birds to appear. When one of them is seen to go to the nest, the plate is ex- 

 posed by pulling the thread or 

 pressing the pneumatic bulb, and, 

 if in luck, a picture may thus be 

 obtained. Many plates, however, 

 are sure to be spoiled ; little can 

 be seen, and the observer has no 

 control over the course of events. 

 In the following outline a method 

 is described by which nesting birds 

 can, in most cases, be successfully 

 approached and studied with ease 

 whatever the position of the nest. 

 The usual mode of procedure is 

 reversed, and instead of attempting 

 to carry the sensitive plate up to 

 the bird, the camera is fixed and 

 the bird is brought directly before 

 it. 



It is a comparatively easy mat- 

 ter to examine and photograph the 



Fig. 2. — Tent pitched beside Cedar-bird's nest. In tliis case the nCSt the eggS Or the VOUno" of SUCh 



nesting branch was sawn from a neigliboring apple tree and ' ' _ 



mounted upon two stakes driven into the ground, on a hillside SPCcicS whOSC dwellings are aCCCS- 



close to a dwelling house. " 



sible to all ; but, to portray the free 

 behavior of the adult bird in the shy land species is quite another question. 



The method, though limited in its application from the necessities of the 

 case, is based on the solid ground of animal instinct, and may confidently be 

 expected to have a wide application. 



The method in use depends mainly upon two conditions : (1) The control 

 of the nesting site, and (2) the concealment of the observer. 



By nesting site is meant the nest and its immediate surroundings, such as a 

 twig, branch, hollow trunk, stem, or whatever part of a tree the nest may occupy, 

 a bush, stub, strip of sod, or tussock of sedge, that is — the nest with its imme- 

 diate settings. If the nest, like that of an oriole, is fastened to the leafy branch 

 of a tree, the nesting bough is cut off, and the whole is then carefully lowered to 

 the ground and set up in a good light, so that the branch with the nest shall 

 occupy the same relative positions which they did before. The nest, however, is 



