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birds. At some distance, therefore, we unlimbered our reflecting 

 cameras, and made ready to take what pictures we could at 

 long range before the birds should leave. Bowdish and I, being 

 the camera men, were allowed the right of way, and cautiously 

 approaching, we crawled upon the lump some sixty yards from 

 the most gorgeous array of sea birds I have ever seen. We took 

 several long-distance photographs of the birds as they stood 

 watching us. The lump upon which the colony was nesting 

 was not over a hundred yards by thirty, and, in the highest part, 

 was not over a foot and a half above the surrounding mud flats. 

 The area occupied by the nests was not over twenty feet in 

 diameter. And the birds ! We estimated that there were about 

 500 pairs of these splendid birds breeding in that small compass. 

 So close together were they that a bird returning to the colony 

 would have to hover for some seconds to find a place to alight. 



We sat for probably twenty minutes within a hundred feet of 

 the birds, which showed not the slightest apprehension; and 

 gradually we edged nearer and nearer, until finally we got a 

 little too close and the entire bunch arose as one bird. For- 

 tunately I was ready, and succeeded in catching them just as 

 they left their nests. We remained perfectly still, however, and 

 shortly, in twos and threes, they began to drop back, and soon all 

 had settled again. 



A large number of pictures were taken, but I was not satisfied, 

 as I wanted to make some closer observations, as well as to get 

 some more intimate camera studies. The umbrella blind was 

 out of the question, as there was no protection whatever against 

 the strong wind which, of course, was blowing particularly hard 

 at that moment; but I thought it might be possible, if I had 

 the necessary tools, to build a blind of seaweed as close to the 

 nests as I wished to get. We did not have any lumber or the 

 other requisites with us, and so we decided, having found our 

 birds, that we should leave them and come back later fully 

 prepared. 



We then decided to make a full investigation of the colony, 

 and approached the nesting place. The birds left, most of them 

 hovering above our heads at a low height, and some of them 

 flying out and settling in the shallow water surrounding the 



