38 NATURE AND THE CAMERA 



lighted surroundings. But this is done at the risk 

 of. the lives of the young birds; not that the parents 

 will often desert a nest once the young are hatched, 

 but if the branch is cut, the leaves die, and hanging 

 dead and shrivelled, they are conspicuous, with the 

 result that attention is drawn to the nest and its 

 contents. 



Then again, when the surrounding leaves are dead, 

 unless very carefully replaced, the nest is exposed to 

 both sun and rain, and, as a result of the more or less 

 constant sunlight, the young are made restless and 

 desert their nest much sooner than they otherwise 

 would. In fact, I beUeve that young birds seldom stay 

 as long in a nest that has been discovered and handled 

 by human beings as they do in one that has remained 

 undiscovered. This may be a wrong idea, but I 

 have seen much evidence that goes to prove it. It 

 is an indisputable fact that the longer a young bird 

 remains in its nest (I speak only of those whose 

 habit it is to remain in their home until they are 

 about ready to fly), that is to say, the more developed 

 it is, the better is it fitted to withstand rain and to 

 elude its only too numerous enemies. Probably only 

 a small percentage of the birds that leave their nest 

 ever reach maturity, so it is highly advisable to do 

 all in our power to lessen their dangers rather than 

 increase them by changing their surroundings and 

 forcing them out into the world of enemies before 



