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two weeks. This nest was photographed and the eggs, needless 

 to say, were collected and very carefully packed away for 

 future reference. 



On the following day, which was very cold, a visit was planned 

 to the Short-eared Owl's nest. Packing up the camera, there- 

 fore, and making sure that the plate-holders were in the case, we 

 started on the four-mile tramp. The nest was still there, and 

 in the eight days since we had found it, the bird had laid one 

 more egg. We decided to take the set, although w^e found in the 

 books that four to seven was the usual number of eggs. All 

 these eggs were incubated, however, and very likely they formed 

 ■a full set. 



The nest was then photographed, and never again do I desire 

 to take a photograph under the same conditions. The little 

 island on which the nest was located was scarcely large enough 

 for me to stand on, to say nothing of setting up the camera. 

 After spending an hour trying to find a suitable place on which 

 to set the tripod, I gave it up as a bad job, and holding the 

 camera in my hand and trusting I had it focused on the nest, I 

 took a snapshot. The resulting picture was not what it might 

 have been under more favorable circumstances. 



On our way to the Owl's nest, we visited one of the largest 

 colonies of Common Terns which we found in the islands. 

 These nests had not been disturbed, and most of them contained 

 full sets of eggs. 



So far, in spite of careful searching, we had been unable to 

 locate a nest of the Shelduck or Red-breasted Merganser. But 

 when the next day broke cold and rainy, we had hopes that we 

 would at last find one of these elusive Shelducks on her eggs. 

 Donning our oil skins, therefore, we set out, and when rounding 

 a Httle point of land jutting out into a pond, I saw a flash of 

 white which I thought was a Merganser. The bird appeared, as 

 I saw it, to be running on the water as though getting a start 

 to rise. We decided that here at last was the long-looked-for 

 nest. While Prest and Wilcox made a careful search, I visited 

 a different part of the pond in hopes of again seeing the bird. 

 On my return, at the end of an hour, they reported no luck, and 

 I decided to have a final look. Going about ten feet further 



