The Nest in the Gutter 



By GILBERT H. TRAFTON, Passaic, N. J. 



Photographs by the author 



ON the morning of June 30, my little girl informed me that she had seen 

 a bird's nest on the roof of the house. I went out to investigate, think- 

 ing that an English Sparrow had probably chosen the gutter for its 

 nesting site; but I was much surprised to see the white- tipped tail and black 

 bill of a Kingbird projecting from the sides of a nest which was closely fitted 

 into one end of the gutter. This suggested one of the first steps in the process 

 of evolution by which the Kingbird may change its nesting habits to adapt them 

 to the advent of man, as its cousin the Phoebe, and other birds have already 

 done. I had seen a Kingbird keeping watch in a neighboring orchard, but I 

 had not supposed its nest was so near. As I was watching, one of the birds flew 

 to the edge of the nest, and, after waiting till its mate had come and settled on 

 the eggs, flew away. 



Lest the birds might be frightened away, I decided to make no examination 

 of the nest till the young had hatched. During the following week a bird was 

 almost constantly on the nest. Several times I. observed the bird on the nest 

 being fed by its mate, and from my observations I judged this to be the way 

 in which the bird usually obtained its food. On one occasion, the birds changed 

 places on the nest. 



On July 6, I first saw the yellow bills of the young appear over the edge 

 of the nest, while the parent was standing by with outspread wings to shield 

 the young from the intense rays of the midday sun. I then ventured for the first 

 time to look into the nest, using a long ladder reaching to the eaves. As I ascended 

 the ladder and came near the nest, both birds flew furiously around me, utter- 

 ing loud cries and dashing at my head with a whir of wings and snap of the bill, 

 which suggested an unpleasant experience in case the birds came nearer. The 

 nest contained four little ones, covered with a soft white coating of long fluffy 

 down, looking like so many balls of freshly combed cotton. 



During the first part of the day, my presence near the corner of the house, 

 even while on the ground, was sufficient cause for the birds to fly around, utter- 

 ing cries of alarm, but later in the day they became quiet, so that I was able to 

 remain near without disturbing them. That the birds might become accustomed 

 to the ladder, I left it near the nest for the first day; on the following forenoon 

 a tripod was attached to the ladder, and in the afternoon the camera was set up 

 and the first picture taken, using a long piece of linen thread to snap the shutter. 

 Although the birds flew at me fiercely while working at the camera, yet no sooner 

 had I reached the ground than one of them was at the nest. 



The day was an exceedingly hot one, and the parents spent most of the time 

 during the middle of the day standing over the nest with wings outspread, to 

 shield the young from the hot sun, themselves panting, meanwhile, with wide- 



(72) 



