NORTHWARD WITH THE SHORE-BIRDS 227 
I had lost the tripod screw. Not to be beaten, I cut down 
with my knife a small spruce, made a stake, and drove it into 
the ground near the nest. With my tree-apparatus I clamped 
the camera to the stake and was ready for business, the hrst 
part of which was to attempt the picture of the mother-bird on 
the nest. The camera was properly focused and screened 
with spruce boughs ; then, with a thread in hand, attached at 
the other end to the shutter, I lay flat on my face, peering 
over a dune, and waited. Poor little bird, she did not like 
the look of this blunderbuss with staring eye any more than 
we should that of a cannon trained upon our front door. 
LEAST SANDPIPER ON NEST 
