PHOTOGRAPHING NESTS AND EGGS 47 



recommended, as, unless done by an extremely con- 

 scientious person, one willing to guard the nest and 

 its contents against risk even at great personal incon- 

 venience, the resulting loss of bird life would be very 

 great and quite uselessly so. Birds place their nests 

 where the surrounding vegetation will shade the 

 young from the direct rays of the sun, and should 

 these shading leaves be removed, or should the nest 

 be taken away from them, the young birds, in their 

 anxiety to avoid the sun, will frequently scramble out 

 of their nest long before they are fledged, and death 

 is an almost certain sequel. Even by disturbing the 

 surroundings of a nest there is danger to the young 

 birds, as the nest is no longer so well concealed and 

 is therefore more or less exposed to the many natural 

 enemies that during the nesting season are ever on 

 the hunt for young birds and eggs. 



To any one who has not had experience with 

 birds, it would seem an easy matter to coax the pa- 

 rent bird to the nest when the young are there to act 

 as a lure. The camera, one imagines, would be 

 utterly disregarded. But such does not happen to be 

 the case, that is to say, it is not the rule. Certain 

 birds, such as the yellow-breasted chat or the crow, 

 cannot, according to my own experience, be enticed 

 to the nest, and I fully believe that the crow would 

 allow its young to die of starvation rather than visit the 

 nest while the camera is anywhere near. Many birds, 



