on a Half-day s Bird-Nesting with the Camera. 293


that I should like to photograph it, we went to the spot—a tall

Mountain Fir, the nest being about forty feet from the ground.

I proceeded to climb (the rough bark of a fir tree is not pleasant

to the hands), the camera slung on my back, and, after a struggle,

reached the nest which contained five eggs. It was a very good

specimen of the nest of Accipiter nisus*; but, very much to my

disappointment, I found that to fix the camera was impossible,

the branches above the nest being very rotten ; and those on

which I sat, near the nest, would hardly bear my weight, and

were rather treacherous. I was thus forced to abandon this

opportunity.


After a short rest we moved on, and, when crossing a field

near the wood, I noticed a pond well surrounded with rushes,

and we took a walk round it. Beneath a small bush, overhanging

the pond, was the nest of a Moorhen ( Gallimda chloropus),

(Fig 3). This nest was rather difficult to photograph, being

about three feet from the top of the bank, and the water in the

pond too deep for wading. The photograph was eventually

obtained by placing one leg of the tripod over the bank, and

laying the other two legs flat along the ground, pegging them

down to prevent the camera toppling over into the water. It

will be seen from the illustration that the view is taken looking

directly down into the nest, the “ sky ” portion in the photo¬

graph being the water in the pond.


As may be imagined, all these operations took up a con¬

siderable amount of time, and the afternoon was then brought

to a close.


Concluding, it must be understood that the nests and eggs

are not to be seen exactly as represented in the photographs, as,

in almost every case, some part of the bush or other surround¬

ings had to be removed a little in order to obtain a view of the

nest.



Sparrowhawk.



