121 



exposure was the one shown here, of tlie Veery entering 

 the nest. 



The next morning the eggs had hatclicd. I waited until 

 the little birds were ten days old before attempting to again 

 photograph the parent. She was still very sh}' but remained 

 in sight of the nest all tlie time, usually with her beak filled 

 with food for her babies. Her mate perched on a branch 

 hard by and, after scolding for awhile, tried to induce her 

 to be brave by singing to her. Sometimes his "veery" song 

 would ring out exceedingly loud and clear, and again it 

 would be just a faint murmur as though the singer were a 

 great ways off, although he sat on the same twig about 

 thirty feet distant. 



Finally !Mrs. Veery descended to the ground and com- 

 menced walking in a circle about the nest, each circuit 

 bringing her a little nearer the goal. Every time she came 

 to the slender tube running from the camera to my place 

 of concealment she would pause and look at it critically, 

 then jump over it and turn quickly about to look it over 

 again. With her head cocked to one side so comicallj', I 

 could imagine her saying to herself: "It looks like a worm, 

 but it can't be, for I never heard of one as long as that is. " 

 At last she hopped to the nest, all the little heads were ex- 

 pectantly raised, mouths wide open like little yellow caverns, 

 and my long awaited opportunity had come. 



Several times we went through this operation, but with 

 the exception of the picture shown here, the results were not 

 satisfactory to me. Several incidents happened to relieve 

 the monotony of waiting, — incidents that tended to still 

 further alarm and delay the return of an already shy 

 mother bird. The thrush was just on the point of approach- 

 ing the nest when a fusilade of shots was heard from the 

 edge of the woods. Soon a twenty-five year old, overgrown 

 boy ajopeared armed with a small repeating rifle. He pass- 

 ed by about twenty yards distant and showed his sporting 



