WHAT I HAVE DONE WITH BIRDS 



Each day the "Queen" paid less and less heed to me. On the day 

 that I traveled those fourteen miles for the seventh time, my 

 camera was set with no covering at all, exactly where it was 

 wanted, and the grasses parted widely, without the slightest pro- 

 test from the bird; she did not move or open her beak, and she 

 neither looked nor felt afraid or annoyed. Then with a slow plate 

 and time exposure, the frontispiece of this chapter was made; a 

 study of a bird that any hunter will tell you is one of our wildest, 

 shyest creatures. 



After changing the plate, I desired a reproduction of the nest 

 and eggs to complete the series, and as the "Queen" would not 

 leave I gently picked her up, being extremely careful to lift her 

 straight above the nest, so as not to break an egg. Holding her on 

 my breast, with her head slipped inside my blouse, that she might 

 not be alarmed by seeing me touch her eggs, I made an exposure 

 on her nest. 



Her eggs were twelve in number, four and one-half inches 

 around the long way and three and three-quarters at the larger 

 end, by the best measurements I could secure and manage the 

 "Queen" at the same time. They were of a pale ash-color, sparsely 

 sprinkled with splotches of reddish brown and faint lavender 

 markings that looked as if seen through a thin, oily veil. In the 

 golden bowl with the green arch above they were exquisite. 



Then I set the "Queen" back on the edge of her nest and 

 kissed the top of her shining head in parting, for I knew what was 

 on those plates. The grasses of her arch were closed just as nearly 

 as she had them as was possible for me to arrange them. Every- 

 thing was replaced as I found it and I hurried away, unspeakably 

 grateful to the bird that would allow such fellowship on the part 

 of a mortal. 



Our unf amiliarity with the King Rail arises, not from the fact 

 that it is so uncommon, the swamps are filled with them; but 

 because they are extremely wild and almost never take wing, 



38 



