KNIGHTS OF THE CHISEL 



bird. After stroking her I opened my hand and away 

 she went. Now I could just touch eggs at the bottom, 

 as deep down as I could reach. 



The picture of the bird by the hole was not very good, 

 as the side of her toward the camera was shaded, so I 

 tried again, and set a mirror on the grass throwing a 

 strong beam on the hole and below it. Now I was in 

 for all sorts of trouble. The bird was afraid of the 

 mirror and would not brave it for quite a while, though 

 she did in time. Meanwhile the sun changed position 

 and the reflection fell too low. When I went and 

 altered it the bird saw me and stayed away longer. 

 Then, as I waited I noticed that the light was cut off 

 and returned in rather an erratic manner. I was down 

 the slope of the hill and could not see the mirror, so 

 crept up higher to investigate, and was surprised and 

 amused to see a cow standing with her head lowered, 

 gazing threateningly at the imaginary cow before her. 

 I really think that in another moment she would have 

 " tossed " her likeness had I not driven her off. Some- 

 how she had managed to step over the thread without 

 touching it, which was fortunate, as she might have 

 wrecked the shutter before breaking the strong linen 

 thread. She was bound, though, to come back and 

 get satisfaction from the supposed bovine usurper, so 

 I had to keep driving her back. The bird returned 

 several times, though the light was never where I 

 wanted it. I tried short timed exposures, but in each 

 the bird proved to have moved, for the young, now 



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