512 NATURE PICTURES. 



for yoiiic time but what whe brought back fully compensated for the 

 lout];- wait — of perhaps four minutes. It was nothing more nor less 

 than a huge brown grasshopper, nearly as long as the small bird him- 

 self. Again was the camera used as a halting place and again did she 

 fly on my hand. Hungry though the little fellow may have been, he 

 was unable to swallow so large a mouthful, and he dropped the grass- 

 hopper into my partly closed hand. Unfortunately I hiid just pressed 

 the Ijulb and Avas therefore imable to take a photograph of the inter- 

 esting proceeding that followed. 



Quite naturally the mother liird was anxious that so bountiful a sup- 

 pl\^ of food should not be wasted, and she stood on my thumb and, 

 bending down, so that her head was inside my hand, extricated the 

 prize. Then she proceeded to break it into pieces of suitable size, and 

 with th(;sc she fed her quivering and impatient little ofl'spring. Dur- 

 ing the morning I secured a few more photographs of these interesting 

 birds, and then returning the youngster to the bush whence I had 

 taken him, I left the pair in possession of their hillside estate. 



SOME INTERESTING DISAPrOINTMENTS. 



I then went to pay a visit to an ovenbird whose l^eautiful dome- 

 shaped nest was hidden among the dead leaves in the woods near by. 

 She was at home when 1 called, so I decided to photograph her. Unfor- 

 tunately the roof of the arched nest cut off the light so that under 

 existing circumstances a good picture could scarcely be hoped for. A 

 small looking-glass, however, served to alter things, b}'^ throwing the 

 sunlight into the nest, so that only a very short exposure was necessary. 



]My mind was fully made up to make the further acquaintance of 

 this little thrush-like warbler after the arrival of her brood, for it is 

 then that one can really know a })ird. The day arrived, and the four 

 little trembling pink l)odies had taken the place of the speckled eggs. 

 They were too small to photograph then, so I left them for two days 

 and then made one photograph, thinking that later on, as they grew 

 stronger, I should be able to photograph them at diflerent stages of 

 their growth. But this was not to be. As 1 approached the domed 

 nursery I was greeted by the pitiful complaining note of the pair of 

 ovenbirds. That was not the way in which they usually greeted me. 

 I feared the worst, and my fears were realized. In place of the nest 

 there was only a tangled and shattered heap of weed stems and dry 

 leaves — the materials that but a few hours before had constituted a 

 beautiful example of bird architecture. In the soft earth, within 30 

 inches of the ruins, was the print of a cat's foot Sick at heart, I left 

 the scene of misery and desolation, vowing an awful vengeance against 

 cats in general. 



