44 



Bird- Lore 



The next day the horse rustler reported that he had taken the horses 

 over the granite ridge again, and that this time the brooding bird had let 

 him pass within two feet of her without rising. If she were getting as 

 stoical as that she ought to sit well for her picture; so, taking the cam- 

 era, we started for the granite knob. A strange nesting site it surely 

 would have been for any other bird, but it was perfectly characteristic 

 fo a Nighthawk's choice, — bare and open under the heavens. 



This time the old bird was sitting, with her two young beside her, 

 at the foot of a piece of gray granite in a ring of stones, which they 

 matched perfectly, their plumage reproducing both the black specking 



THE OLD NIGHTHAWK 



Photographed from nature. (From the Biological Survey) 



and the brown weathering of the granite. It was hard to see the birds 

 even without concealing vegetation, for, besides the disguise of their color- 

 ing, they sat on the gravel close to the rocks and against a couple of the 

 long cones of Pinus monticola. They crouched so close and shut their 

 eyes so tight that they suggested horned toads with wide, flat bodies and 

 slits for eyes. 



A number of snap-shots were made of the three birds at ten and then 

 at seven feet without disurbing them, and when the mother had flown other 

 photographs were taken of the young alone. To get a better view, I took 

 up one of the little fellows, and he sat quietly in my hand till his picture 

 was taken, when he and his brother woke up to their alarming situation 

 and ran off in opposite directions. 



