1G4 



NATURE STUDV RIU'IEIV 



[8:5— May, 19l:> 



secrets and doing special work in bird study. From the above 

 description it can be seen that here was an excellent opportunity 

 to do work in both Hnes. To have done justice to this oppor- 

 tunity would have required being at the site with note book and 

 camera for hours each day from the time the first egg hatched 

 till the young had left the nest. But this was impossible because 

 school work lasted until three o'clock in the afternoon and the 

 location of the nest was a little more than two miles from the 

 school building. If the time required to walk to and from the 

 site and that consumed in taking a few photographs on each trip 

 is considered, it is seen that little was left for a study of the 

 habits of the birds. 



In the first few attempts at photographing the adults in var- 

 ious activities about the nest, the camera was set ten or twelve 

 feet from the tree. In a few days, however, the birds became 

 so tame that it could be placed within four or five feet of the 

 nest. In several instances it was possible to change the plate 

 holder and make a second exposure with the female bird sitting 

 quietly on the eggs (Fig. 3). Her "fear of man" is seen in the 

 first illustration, where she is j^erched on a limb within a few feet 

 of the lx)ys. In some of the later trips the nest was actually 

 touched before she left it, in which case she would remain in 

 the tree without makintr the noisv remonstrance which character- 



