io8 HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



distance, a thread connecting me with the shutter. 

 In two hours and a half the birds did not venture near 

 the nest, though now and then one would come close 

 to me, either singing or scolding. During this wait 

 I made one excursion off and found another nest with 

 four eggs. The birds made a great fuss when I 

 examined their dummy nests, but were silent when I 

 was near their real home. On July 24 the young in 

 both nests were hatched and half-grown. I set the 

 camera by the first nest, and after a long wait, finding 

 that the bird would not come near, I tried the other 

 one, thinking that these birds might have different 

 dispositions, but it was the same old story. 



As near as I could make out, the birds were shy 

 of me as well as of the camera, though I had hidden 

 thirty or forty feet away as far off as I could watch 

 the nest through the rushes. On my previous visits 

 I had left my focus-cloth wrapped around some of the 

 cat-tail " heads," in a way to resemble a camera, and 

 the birds were accustomed to it. My last hope was 

 to try the umbrella tent. I pitched it, where I usually 

 hid, on July 26. First I left the vicinity entirely, 

 and sneaked back to the tent, I think without being 

 seen by the birds. 



Stripping off all superfluous clothing to keep from 

 melting, I knelt in the mud, and waited, keeping my 

 eyes fixed on the nest, through a peek-hole. For two 

 hours there was not a sound, save that a few times 

 one of the wrens chattered a little near the tent. 

 Since the middle of July their songs had mostly 



