FRIENDS IN FEATHERS 



these two kinds of roots. They had dried firmly as spun glass, 

 then turned to a bright terra cotta colour. The long soaking 

 the flood had given the valley made it possible for the birds to dig 

 these roots; but how they ever broke them off the size they were is 

 still an unsolved problem. The eggs were a Robin's delicate 

 blue. In their bright cradle, with the tender green of the elm 

 thicket all around, they made a picture that had to be seen to be 

 appreciated fully. 



After making a record of the nest that was to my satisfaction, 

 I began courting the confidence of the mother bird truly a 

 delightful task! Every morning and almost every evening I 

 visited the nest, each time going closer, making longer waits, 

 moving with extreme caution, lest she become frightened, 

 and always going through the operation of setting up the ladder 

 and a small camera in front of the nest, to accustom her to the 

 process; in the hope that I soon could approach near enough to 

 make a study of her as she brooded. 



Sometimes I crept into the thicket in the early morning when 

 the bushes were heavy with dew, when the breath of night lin- 

 gered in the valley and when the Bell Bird and the Grosbeak were 

 singing chants to the rising sun. Sometimes I lingered near the 

 nest until late evening when the woods grew very still, lacking 

 the chirp and chatter of many little heads now tucked in sleep. 

 Then night's sounds would begin to rise in a steady volume around 

 me. A raccoon living in a hollow tree near me could be heard 

 getting ready for his nightly raid; tree-toads would sing inter- 

 mittently. Whippoorwills set me shivering, and once in June a 

 big golden Eccles Imperialis brushed my cheek. I had to let 

 it go for fear pursuit would startle my bird and undo all my hours 

 of watching with her, yet I would have given much to have 

 captured that beautiful moth. Once while waiting near Mother 

 Bell, climbing the ladder occasionally and softly talking to her, 



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