THE OSPREY. 47 
I could recognize him by a feather missing in his tail; I 
also imagined I could distinguish his voice from others. 
Throughout our acquaintance he was always much more 
timid than his wife, and took alarm on the slightest provoca- 
tion. She, on the other hand, became tamer and tamer, 
until her fearlessness was almost absurd. By five o’clock 
I had no need for the blind whatsoever, and could 
stand out in the open, camera in hand, and snap her from 
any angle I desired. I regretted the plates I had exposed 
in the morning on unsatisfactory and distant views. ‘The 
bird was not in the least “‘ moody,” like so many Gardiner’s 
Island Ospreys, and when scared off, always came back to 
her nest promptly. Even the baby was allowed to sit up 
in the nest and watch me, occasionally moving his head 
quizzically from side to side after the manner of his parent, 
without being commanded to “‘ squat.”” When I compared 
the adult bird’s present attitude of complete confidence 
with the nervous apprehension which she had exhibited 
upon my first arrival the previous evening, I rejoiced in 
this new example of what has many times been manifested 
to me in my bird-photographing experience, namely that 
wild-birds will often comprehend in a surprisingly short 
space of time, just which conditions possess an element of 
danger for them, and which do not. In other words, a 
spirit of sympathy, even though unconscious, seems some- 
how to be reciprocated by many wild creatures—a fact 
that bears a plain enough moral for us all. 
At six o’clock I “struck camp,” and leaving my friend 
to watch the Ospreys, I walked down the railway track 
to photograph the nest on the telegraph pole referred to 
by the boy the day before. No birds were near it when 
I reached the spot (except some Sparrows nesting in the 
sticks), and though I waited some time, none appeared. 
Believing the nest deserted, I exposed my last plate upon it, 
to show the situation, and started away. I had not gone 
three hundred yards before both Ospreys came to the nest 
together, the second one bearing a fish! ‘The illustration 
