78 WOODLAND CREATURES 



and tears in the covering all that went on around, 

 the bullfinch's nest being so close, that later on, 

 when the owner was brooding, I often longed to 

 put my hand through a hole and stroke her ! 

 The real object of erecting the tent had been 

 photography, for I wanted to take some photo- 

 graphs of the bullfinches, but the situation was 

 a particularly difficult one, the nest being tucked 

 away in the heart of this thick young spruce, 

 in addition to which the spot was so shaded and 

 overshadowed by dark Austrian pines that only 

 the slowest of exposures was possible. To make 

 matters worse, the light which did reach the nest 

 had filtered through the heavy green branches, 

 so that it was even poorer actinically (that is to 

 say, in the kind of rays that effect the photographic 

 plate) than it appeared to the eye. What was 

 more, I did not dare to pull back many of the 

 branches for fear of upsetting the bullfinches. 

 All I ventured to do was to trim away a few 

 twigs that came between the camera and the 

 nest. 



Tucked away in the little tent, with my camera 

 focused on the nest, I waited for the birds to 

 return. It was very hot among the young fir 

 trees, and still warmer inside the " hide " ; not 

 a breath of air crept down the scented alleys 

 between the trees ; dancing flies hummed drowsily ; 

 thrushes, blackbirds, and warblers sung on all 

 sides, while pigeons cooed lazily in the distance. 

 Through one of my peep-holes I saw a cock pheasant 

 pace slowly across a ride, the sunlight gleaming 



