WHAT I HAVE DONE WITH BIRDS 



She was all of twelve inches in length. I set my teeth hard to 

 keep my heart from jumping out of my mouth and exposed a 

 twenty-six plate the fiftieth of a second. Then I took it over at a 

 twenty-fifth, for fear the first exposure might be short. And 

 there she sat! 



At my feet lay a plate-holder that fits inside my camera. 

 There were more time-plates in it. Should I ? With all delibera- 

 tion I turned the camera front toward me, inserted an enlarging 

 lens and turned it back. Then almost breathlessly, if any one 

 wants excitement ! I began walking that tripod toward her. First 

 I would reach through under the camera, and tilting it back a lit- 

 tle, set the front leg forward six inches, then each of the side ones 

 in turn. At last I was so close I had to use the extension front 

 almost full-length to get her in focus and she never flinched as 

 the shining big glass eye came sliding toward her. If she was 

 frightened she gave none of the usual signs, for she crowded no 

 lower in the nest, nor did she plaster her feathers any tighter to 

 her body. She brooded lightly and easily and looked exactly as 

 she did before the camera ever was placed near her. 



When the first exposure was made the sun 'was shining 

 brightly. One little spot of light struck the top of her head and 

 another her shoulder. I inserted a second plate, lengthened the 

 exposure and waited as motionless as possible for over fifteen 

 minutes, until a cloud I could see coming up obscured the sun 

 just enough to wipe out those spots of light. Then came the ex- 

 posure I had coveted for years, the picture used as the frontispiece 

 to this book ; but my fingers are crowding on the keys of my type- 

 writer in my haste to acknowledge that I owe it entirely, as I owe 

 so many of my best studies, to the kindness of Bob. 



I knew of no way to better that last exposure, so I inserted a 

 fresh plate, stepped up beside the camera and said to the Cuckoo 

 "I want a study of your nest showing your big egg now. Won't 



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