32 THE HOME-LIFE OF 
alarm-signals, until, with my head exposed, with my 
handkerchief waving, and with loud shouts, I finally induced 
my bird (about one hundred feet away) to take wing! 
When her nest contains young, the female Osprey will 
usually be found standing like a sentinel on its edge or on a 
conspicuous perch close by (Plate 13). At the approach 
of the intruder she utters a querulous whistle; as her 
anxiety increases her complaint becomes more shrill, until 
it reaches an almost hysterical pitch. Meanwhile, she leans 
forward as though ready to take flight at any moment, 
and when convinced that it is no longer safe for her to 
remain, she unfolds her great wings (Plate 14), and with 
loud screams precipitates herself into the air (Plate 15). 
To the casual observer the birds seem to hurl themselves 
into flight in a variety of attitudes. But my cinematograph 
films reveal that the wings are extended upward to their 
fullest limit, ready for an instant down-stroke, before the 
bird’s feet leave the perch. 
In returning to her nest the Osprey will, if there is any 
air stirring, always fly up the wind. In case, by reason 
of the presence of the camera or otherwise, she decides 
not to alight, she flies straight on, then turns so as to 
make a broad oval detour, and again comes up-wind. 
The invariability of this rule is of great assistance to the 
photographer, and he can obtain broadside, head-on, or 
rear views of the bird, merely by placing his camera according 
to the direction of the wind. Mr. Cleaves’s remarkable 
picture of an Osprey in flight, as seen directly from behind 
(Plate 162), was no haphazard piece of luck. The camera 
was carefully pointed in the face of the wind and focussed 
on a handkerchief placed on an upright stick beyond the 
nest. ‘The stick was then removed, and later, as the bird 
was springing from her nest, the exposure was made. 
A suspicious Osprey will often repeat dozens of times 
the operation of approaching her nest, as if about to alight, 
hesitating in the air, and then passing on. Each time 
she swings about, describing the same detour with the 
