14 Bt'ij.ktix 7 



must have been watching and returned to the nest as soon as I left. 

 Knowing the exact location I approached cautiously and focussed the 

 camera about 10 feet from the nest. She did not even wink at the click 

 of the shutter on the first exposure, nor did she show the least sign of 

 alarm when I moved up to six feet away and took another picture. 

 At four feet away where I focussed up and took another view, I could 

 see that she was breathing more rapidly, and the next move sent her 

 whistiiig away across the pasture. 



This nest was in too exposed a location and it came to naught. A 

 few days afterward my friend reported the nest torn up and the eggs gone. 

 Whether a prowling skunk, fox, snake or red squirrel was responsible. 

 we could make no guess, but some of the many bird enemies had found 

 the snug nest and in a minute the work of weeks and the hopes of a 

 year of the mother woodcock had been wiped out. 



A NEST ON A CLOCK. 

 Miss Helj-:x Siiehrill, Northampton, Mass. 



When I was a girl I lived in a farm house in Alabama. In the' 

 family sitting room was a big fireplace, and on the mantle above was 

 an old fashioned clock, about three feet high. As my mother and I sat 

 quietly at work in tliis room one spring morning, a wren flew in 

 through the open window. We held our breath as it flew about the 

 room, at last alighting on the clock. Not long afterwards the wren 

 and its mate began to build their nest right on top of the clock. In 

 and out they flew, carrying sticks and straws. The sticks loolced like 

 splinters from old, dry rails, some of them being six or eight inches 

 in length. It was wonderful to see such tiny birds carry such long 

 sticks. 



Just outside the north window, through which the wrens always 

 flew in going to or from the nest, was a porch. After the nest was 

 finished papa wren would sit on the porch railing and sing. On cool 

 nights my mother closed the window. Finding it closed in the early 

 morning the bird would peck at the glass until the window was opened. 

 I suppose that really he was trying to fly through it. As soon as the 

 window was opened he flew straight to the nest. The striking of the 

 clock never disturbed it. nor talking in the room. 



