i6 Bird -Lore 



frightened the birds away. They were back again within a few 

 minutes, but an unexpected source of annoyance interfered. A freight 

 train stopped opposite the scene of my operations and belched great 

 billows of smoke between the sun and the birds. Also the shadow 

 of the cabin was gradually encroaching on the feeding ground. I 

 made a trial exposure, however, and obtained a very good negative. 

 But a shadow in the foreground and a wagon tongue in the rear, did 

 not add to the pictorial effect of the group. 



After much pulling and prying, I pushed the objectionable wagon 

 out of the drifts, and put off further photographing until the next 

 morning. The morning came as bright and sunny as I desired. My 



YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS 



feathered subjects were early in the open air studio, and required no 

 conventional admonition to 'look pleasant.' In fact, they were 

 almost too lively for the camera shutter. The negative obtained 

 proved very good, and well repaid me for all trouble and annoyance. 



A few Yellow-headed Blackbirds were attracted by the food supply 

 I furnished, and I made several negatives of them. The Yellow-heads 

 were more wary than the Horned Larks, and flew away at the slightest 

 disturbance. Only a few at a time gathered beneath the window, while 

 the others perched on fence-posts at a safe distance and kept watch. 



But it remained for a Northern Shrike to add 'insult to injury,' by 

 seizing a dead mouse I had placed on a post and alighting on the 

 camera with its capture ! 



