CHAPTER I 



Friends in Feathers 



THE greatest thing possible to do 

 with a bird is to win its confidence. In 

 a few days' work around most nests 

 the birds can be taught so to trust nie, 

 that such studies can be made as are 

 here presented. 



I am not superstitious, but I am 

 afraid to mistreat a bird ; while luck is 

 with me in the indulgence of this 

 fear. In all my years of field work 

 not one study of a nest, or of any bird, has been lost by dealing 

 fairly with my subjects. If a nest is located where access is 

 impossible without moving it, an exposure is not attempted; but 

 as surely as the sun rises on another morning, another nest of the 

 same species will be found within a few days, where a reproduc- 

 tion of it can be made. 



Recently, in summing up the hardships incident to securing 

 one study of a brooding swamp-bird, a prominent nature lover 

 and editor said to me emphatically: "That is not a woman's 

 work." 



"I do not agree with you," I answered. "In its hardships, 

 in wading, swimming, climbing, in hidden dangers suddenly to be 

 confronted, in abrupt changes from heat to cold, or from light 

 to dark, field photography is not a woman's work; but in the 

 matter of finesse in approaching the birds, in limitless patience in 



1 



