1520 



Journal of Applied Microscopy 



by wire staples. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this screen, 

 especially in a country overrun with cats. 



The nest might be taken from the bough or from the sward, but this would 

 be inadvisable, chiefly because it would destroy the natural site or the exact con- 

 ditions selected and in some measure determined by the birds themselves. 



For an observatory, I have adopted a green tent which effectually conceals 

 the student, together with his camera and entire outfit. The tent is pitched 

 beside the nest, and when in operation is open only at one point, marked by a 

 small square window, in line with the photographic lens and nest. 



When the birds approach the nest in its new position, any strange objects, 

 like the stakes which support the bough, or the tent which is pitched beside it, 



arouse their sense of fear or 

 suspicion ; they may keep away 

 for a time, or advance with cau- 

 tion. If very shy, like many 

 catbirds, they will sometimes 

 skirmish about the tent two 

 hours or more before touching 

 the nest. Their fears, however, 

 are usually overcome in from 

 twenty minutes to an hour, and 

 when the nest has once been 

 visited in its new site the vic- 

 tory is won. I have known a 

 chipping sparrow and red-eyed 

 vireo to feed their young in 

 three minutes after the tent was 

 in place. 



The tent which I have used 

 for three seasons is made of 

 stout grass-green denim, and, 

 with the frame, weighs only six 

 and one-half pounds. It can be 

 pitched in ten minutes almost 

 anywhere, and may be compactly rolled, and carried for miles without serious 

 inconvenience. One may spend any number of hours in it by day or night, and 

 with a fair degree of comfort, excepting in very hot or sultry weather, when ex- 

 posed to the sun on all sides. It is also a welcome shield from the rain. The 

 green color of the material renders the tent an inconspicuous object in a field or 

 open pasture, but from the standpoint of the bird the color is really a matter of 

 complete indifference. It is of some importance, however, when we consider the 

 attraction which a tent seems to possess for human spectators, whether young or 

 old. 



The front of the tent should be parallel with the nesting bough, when there 

 is one, and the long axis of the latter should be parallel with the sun's course. 

 The tent is so placed that the nest is in direct line, not with the middle of the 



Fig. 4. — Female Robin brooding on a hot July day. 



