154 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



the smaller branches clatter and swing violently 

 to and fro in consequence of accidentally striking 

 them with her powerful wings. 



Although the day was far spent, I could not 

 resist the temptation of going into concealment 

 and trying my hand upon the birds. To my 

 dismay, I discovered that the air-ball by which 

 both the shutters of the camera were worked 

 was missing. It had, in all probability, been 

 caught between two top stones of one of the 

 numerous walls I had climbed, and been forcibly 

 torn away from the pneumatic tubing to which it 

 was attached. I had no reserve air reservoir of 

 any kind with me, but thinking I might be able 

 to release the mechanism of the rapid shutter 

 with my fingers, I propped the slow one in front 

 open with a piece of stick, and got everything 

 ready. 



In less than five minutes the sparrow-hawk 

 was back at her nest, but took her departure 

 again before I could, in my handicapped condition, 

 make an exposure upon her. She had espied the 

 lens, and for over an hour she darted back and 

 forth through the trees, saying distinctly un- 

 pleasant things about it. When she did settle 

 down to the duties of incubation, it was quite 

 too dark for the making of rapid exposures, so 

 I sat still awhile to listen, learn, and admire. 

 Presently I heard a stone clink ever so softly in 



