and Laboratory Methods. 



1519 



now but four instead of forty or more feet from the ground. The nesting bough 

 is carried to a convenient distance from the tree, and firmly fastened to two 

 stakes, driven into the ground and placed in a good light. If the nest is in a 

 tussock in a shaded swamp, the whole is cut out and taken to the nearest well 

 lighted place ; if in the woods, it is carried to a clearing where the light is favor- 

 able for study. Again, when a nest like that of the brown thrush occupies the 

 center of a dense thorn bush which no human eye can penetrate and much 

 less that of the camera, its main supports are cut off, and the essential parts are 

 removed to the outside of the clump or to any favorable point close at hand. If 

 the nest is but five or ten feet up, the main stem is severed, and the nesting 

 branch lowered to the four-foot mark, a convenient working height. 



This sudden displace- 

 ment of the nesting bough 

 is of no special import- 

 ance to either old or 

 young, provided certain 

 precautions are taken. 

 The most important con- 

 ditions for success ar^ as 

 follows : the change of 

 nesting site at the proper 

 time, or when parental 

 instinct is approaching 

 its culmination ; the pro- 

 tection of the young from 

 excessive heat and vio- 

 lent storms, and the pro- 

 tection of the nesting 

 bough from predacious 

 enemies. 



When the nesting 

 branch is vertical and 

 not too large, it can be easily kept fresh for days by placing it in a can or jug 

 of water, which should be set in the ground. 



Young birds have many relentless enemies, among the worst of which are 

 cats, jays, squirrels, and small boys. On page 15 of "The Home Life of Wild 

 Birds " this subject is thus referred to : "I feared lest prowling cats should dis- 

 cover the young whose nest and branch had been brought down from the tree 

 top. and set up again in plain sight within easy reach from the ground, but I 

 was happily mistaken. Predacious animals of all kinds seem to avoid such 

 nests as if they were new devices to entrap and slay them." It is best not to 

 stake too much upon this assurance, for no nest of young birds is ever safe, 

 however perfectly concealed. We must also be aware that cats and wild depre- 

 dators, like the birds themselves, soon become accustomed to new objects and 

 surroundings. The nest and nesting branch, whether moved or not, should be 

 protected whenever possible by a wire net of ample height, secured to the ground 



Fig. 3. — Female Cedar-bird astride ucst, sliielding her young, wliich ware 

 then six day old, from excessive heat. 



