FRIENDS IN FEATHERS 



awaiting the exact moment for the best exposure, in the tedious 

 and delicate processes of the dark room, in the art of winning 

 bird babies and parents, it is not a man's work. No man ever 

 has had the patience to remain with a bird until he secured a real 

 character study of it. A human mother is best prepared to under- 

 stand and deal with a bird mother." 



This is the basis of all my field work : a mute contract between 

 woman and bird. In spirit I say to the birds: "Trust me and I 

 shall do by you as I would be done by. Your nest and young 

 shall be touched as I would wish some giant, surpassing my size 

 and strength as I surpass yours, to touch my cradle and baby. 

 I shall not tear down your home and break your eggs or take 

 your naked little ones from your nest before they are ready to go, 

 leaving them to die miserably. I shall come in colours to which 

 you are accustomed, move slowly and softly, not approaching 

 you too close until your confidence in me is established. I shall 

 be most careful to feed your young what you feed them; drive 

 away snakes and squirrels, and protect you in every way possible 

 to me. Trust me, and go on with your daily life. For what 

 small disturbance is unavoidable among you, forgive me, for 

 through it I shall try to win thousands to love and to shield you." 



That I frequently have been able to teach a bird to trust 

 me completely, these studies prove; but it is possible to go even 

 further. After a week's work in a location abounding in every 

 bird native to my state, the confidence of the whole feathered 

 population has been won, so that I could slip quietly in my green 

 dress from nest to nest, with not the amount of disturbance caused 

 by the flight of a Crow or the drumming of a Woodpecker. 

 This was proved to me one day when I was wanted at home. 

 A member of my family came gently and unostentatiously, as 

 she thought, through the wood to tell me. Every Wren began 

 scolding. Every Cat-bird followed her with imperative ques- 



