186 



THE OOLOGIST 



phoebe forgets its natural shyness and 

 mingles with the other birds, lending 

 its slight, plaintive cry to the general 

 morning concert. The butcher bird, 

 tyrant of the woods, loses much of its 

 savage disposition and becomes a 

 peaceful resident where it was once a 

 dreaded visitor. 

 Visitors from Afar. 



Other birds come and go, and all 

 are welcome. Last year a cedar wax- 

 wing from the depths of some north- 

 ern forest was brought to the hospital, 

 where its broken wing was dressed 

 and it was given nourishing food until 

 strong enough to fly. 



Later in the year, when food be- 

 comes rather scarce, the birds gather 

 three times a day for their food, 

 which is spread upon a table covered 

 with white and kept scrupulously 

 clean. The girls serve as waitresses. 



The Junior girls at Cumnock School 

 formally organized their society and 

 meet regularly for the study of bird 

 life and habits. They have made a 

 special study of foods and carefully 

 choose some food which each species 

 will enjoy. The officers of the club 

 are Nancy Lewis, daughter of Mrs. 

 Lewis, president of the Senior Audo- 

 bon Society, president; Florence 

 Marsh, daughter of Robert Marsh, 

 vice-president ; Katherine Robbins, 

 treasurer, and Mary Redman, secre- 

 tary. 



Among the other girls interested in 

 the work are Wanda Eperson, Kath- 

 arine Maynard, Winifred Wiltres, 

 Margaret Rose, Phoebe Lund, Alma 

 Barman and Edna Doorman. 



Western Niglitliawks. 



With Three Halftones. 

 One day late in July, 1909, a friend 

 of mine who lives a short distance 

 from Couev d' Alene, Idaho, while 

 working in his corn field, flushed a 

 mother Nighthawk from her nest. 



Knowing my interest in birds and 

 nests, he came and told me of his 

 find, and I proceeded at once to the 

 spot with my camera outfit. In the 

 first negatives that were made, the 

 other bird appeared too small, so went 

 back another day, July 25th, and tried 

 again, getting as close as possible, 

 and obtained two good views of the 

 bird on nest. She permitted a very 

 close approach before she would leave 

 the eggs. Then the usual antics were 

 gone through, flapping her wings 

 along the ground and darting around 

 in different directions doing her level 

 best to save her two pretty eggs. I 

 tried to make a negative while she 

 was stretched out on the ground but 

 could not get close enough as she kept 

 trying to draw me away from her 

 nest. 



Finally I gave it up and turned my 

 attention to the nest, or rather the 

 eggs, as the Nighthawk doesn't be- 

 lieve in having straws, sticks, hairs, 

 etc., about, but lays eggs on bare 

 ground. 



After making a negative of the 

 eggs, in situ, I watched the mother 

 bird a long time, but she would not 

 come very close to her nest, so left 

 her, intending to return often and 

 keep track of the young ones. It was 

 the 8th of August before I got back 

 again and found two good sized young 

 birds, partly feathered, and pieces of 

 egg shell lying about. 



They seemed to be suffering a great 

 deal from the heat as the ground was 

 very hot and the strong sunlight beat- 

 ing down on them. Quite a few weeds 

 had grown up around since my last 

 visit, but they did not give much 

 shelter from the sun; not the numer- 

 ous corn stalks, as the birds were in 

 quite an opening where the corn had 

 failed to grow. I changed them about 

 a little for their picture, and their 

 little hearts beat so, that I was afraid 



