The Camera as an Aid in the Study of Birds n 



Now the tappinf^ hrouglit to view a Downy Woodpecker, then a 

 beautiful Golden Swamp Warbler ; sometimes unexpectedly a great 

 gray mouse scrambled out and plunged boldly into the water be- 

 neath : but this time the blow was followed by a subdued hum 

 from within, and an inquiring, anxious parent Chickadee appeared 

 suddenly on the scene, joined in a moment by a second, and we 

 had the family complete. It was near noon, the sun was shining 

 briglitly. the hole was on the water side of the stub in the light, 

 and we had no Chickadee pictures ; so we camped at once and 

 prepared to 'do' the situation. A tittle investigation showed the 

 nest to be too high for setting up the camera satisfactorily, as the 

 tripod legs sank deep in the mud and water. But our kit in- 

 cluded a saw for just such an emergency, and sawing off the soft 

 stub at the proper height, it was lowered gentl}' until the hole came 

 just on a level with the camera, placed horizontalh' and at a dis- 

 tance of about three feet. Propped with a forked stick, it rested 

 quite securely on the soft bottom. This was better than tipping 

 the camera and emplo}ing the 'swing back,' as the sun was nearh' 

 overhead. After focusing carefully on the opening in the stub, 

 attaching to the camera fifty feet of small rubber tubing with large 

 bulb, in place of the usual short tube and small bulb, setting care- 

 fully the trigger and other accessories of our harmless gun, «nd 

 covering the whole camera with a hood of rough green cloth, the 

 lens alone visible, we retreated to a convenient vantage point among 

 the small willows close by. But a few minutes elapsed before the 

 old birds were on the spot peering at us and the big green object 

 from all sides. In an incredibly short space of time, considering 

 the great liberties that had been taken with their habitation and 

 door yard, the}' became resigned, and one of the birds, which we 

 assumed to be the female, flew straight to the stub, and, with a 

 last suspicious glance at the great glistening eye so near at hand, 

 disappeared into the hole with a large brown worm in her bill. 

 But that momentary dela\' was the looked-for opportunity, and all- 

 sufficient ; for with a (juick scjueeze of the bulb, click went the 

 shutter, and in the twent\-fifth of a second the bird was ours ; shot 

 without so much as knowing it, without indeed the ruffling of a 

 feather or the drawing of a drop of blood, and preserved lifelike 

 and true to nature for all time to come. 



I'rom this time on the birds came and went without hesitation, 

 the only serious delays in our operations being due to the drifting 

 clouds, which now and then obscured the sun and rendered the 

 light too weak for the rapid exposures necessary. One of the birds, 

 the one we took to be the female, was a little more courageous 



