152 



WILD ANIMALS OF GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, 



the creek bottom, I'ull of Avillow thickets and beaver dams, till it 

 came crying over my head. After careful inspection it circled back 

 and lit on the tip of a spruce spire, the other parent watching from 

 an adjoining tree and crying loudly yelp-el p-elp-el]), yelp-el p-elp-elp^ 

 while the two at the nest at intervals raised their weak young voices. 

 Perched on high spires, the parents made handsome figures, with the 

 sun full on their white breasts and proudly raised white heads, and 

 when they flew about they flapped and sailed beautifully, their brown 

 wines almost shining under the sun. 



rhotograph liy A. f '. Bent. Coiirtpsy of Bird-Lore. 



Fig. 56. — Two photographs of an osprey and its nest from a distance of SO feet, the 

 smaller wiUi a 6-inch-focns lens; the larger with a iG-inch-focus lens. 



The birds in the thicket below made merry, the siren of a passing- 

 automobile stage sounded, and finally one of the parents relaxed its 

 vigilant sentry duty enough to go to the nest for breakfast. After 

 eating its fill it stood on the nest for a long time, its young one, 

 as if quieted by its presence, lying down in the nest for a rest. AVhen 

 I moved there was another inspection and then both parents stayed 

 for some time out of sight from the nest, calling as if they sus- 

 pected danger and were encouraging the young to leave. At any 

 rate, one of the fledgelings, as if in response, flapped his wings over 

 the nest again and again, his thin hek-keh-l'eh sounding weak, in- 

 deed, compared with the strong dp-elp-elp of his parents. Presently 



