64 Bird - Lore 



collection of weed-stems, coarse grasses, dead leaves, and strips of grape-bark 

 rather loosely put together. The lining was of very fine strips of grass and 

 horse-hairs compactly woven into a deep bowl. On the side away from the 

 briars, the thick grass rose, completely screening it from view. Indeed, it was 

 a most proper setting for the beautiful little eggs. 



"On every visit the mother bird had shown the same fearlessness. On 

 June I, when I tried to photograph her on the eggs, I had little trouble in 

 setting up my camera and making some pictures from within 2 feet of the nest. 

 Even when, in removing some obstructing grasses, I frightened her off, I had 

 only to wait half an hour for her return. Nothing can give the bird photog- 

 rapher so much satisfaction as such a demonstration of confidence on the part 

 of his subjects. 



"On June 6, three of the eggs hatched. The fourth was addled and re- 

 mained in the nest until after the young had left. The nestlings were typical 

 young Warblers, blind and naked, their pink skin covered only by the finest 

 gray down. No wonder the brooding mother was reluctant to leave them im- 

 protected at my approach. 



"Almost immediately the pin-feathers began to appear on all the feather 

 tracts, even protruding a little from the extremities of the wings. Four days 

 later their eyes opened, and the following day the feathers commenced to 

 burst from the ends of their sheaths. Now, for the first time, the male put in 

 an appearance. Incubation had been carried on altogether by the female. 

 The male, however, was no shirker, and soon showed that he could do his share 

 in caring for the young. 



"At g.30 A.M., on June 12, I set up my green umbrella tent within 3 to 4 

 feet of the nest, no attempt being made to conceal it. At half-past ten, I 

 entered the tent with my camera. Both birds appeared at once; the male with 

 a moth, the female carrying a spider. After ten minutes of excited hopping 

 about, the female summoned up courage and fed one of the young ones. The 

 male was still shy. At 11 o' clock I left the tent but returned fifteen minutes 

 later. Both birds were scolding anxiously when I entered again. I did not 

 see them go to the nest up to noon when I left for lunch. When I again re- 

 turned to the tent, I found the male carrying a small insect. Ten minutes 

 later both birds went to the nest at once. The female remained to clean the 

 nest. Soon the male was back again with more food. Now for three hours 

 the birds came regularly and apparently without fear. As I look over my 

 notes it all comes back to me: the hot sun filtering through the tent, the 

 stifling air, my cramped legs, the rickety soap-box on which I sat, the busy 

 trips of the birds, and the constantly decreasing pile of unexposed plate-holders. 



"In three hours the male made fifteen visits and the female six; an average 

 of one visit every eight and a half minutes. The food consisted of small moths, 

 spiders, grasshoppers, soft brown grubs, green worms, and some insects too 

 small to be identified. The nest was cleaned on the average of once everv 



