240 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



one of the sights of the river before the birds take 

 their departure south. 



Late last September I watched a brood of fully- 

 fledged Swallows go to roost in their old nest, and 

 my brother photographed them by flashlight from 

 the top of a long ladder. 



If left undisturbed, many birds will roost night 

 after night in the same place, and often upon one 

 particular branch. Last winter we tried several 

 times to photograph a female blackbird in a haw- 

 thorn bush as she sat upon an old nest belonging 

 to her species, but in vain: the branches and small 

 twigs were too thick for us to accomplish the 

 making of a picture. 



Pheasants are sometimes very partial to a 

 particular bough for roosting upon; and if any 

 accident, such as the blowing down or felling of 

 the tree to which it belongs, should deprive them 

 of it, they wander round, showing signs of great 

 concern over their loss. 



Tree-perching birds occasionally live in places 

 where they experience considerable difficulty in 

 finding a natural roost. In the summer of 1895 

 my brother and I found ourselves stranded for a 

 little while at Tarbert Harris in the Western Isles 

 of Scotland, and whilst out for a stroll one evening 

 heard a Cuckoo crying his name aloud upon a 

 craggy hillside. I expressed some wonder as to 

 where he slept in such a wilderness of rocks, and 

 was told that he came regularly every night to 

 roost amongst some shrubs growing in the minister's 

 little garden. 



Ravens sleep on ledges and jutting crags in 

 precipices, and are remarkable for their acuteness 

 of hearing. I knew an old gamekeeper in the 

 North of England who used to hide during the 



