152 



WILD ANIMALS OF CLACIEE NATIONAL PARK. 



the creek bottom, full of •willow thickets and beaver dams, till it 

 came crying over my head. After careful inspection it circled back 

 and lit on the tip of a spruce spire, the other parent watching from 

 an ailjoining tree and crying loudly yeJ p-elp-elp-elj), yelp-cl p-elp-clp^ 

 while the two at the nest at intervals raised their weak j'oung voices. 

 Perched on high spires, the parents made handsome figures, with the 

 sun full on their white breasts and j^roudly raised white heads, and 

 vihen thej' flew al)oiit they flapped and sailed beautifullj^, their brown 

 wings almost shining under the sun. 



PhotOKraph by A. f. Bent, CnurtDsy of Bird-Lorp. 



Fig. 50. — Two photographs of an osprcy .md its nest from a distance of 30 feet, the 

 smaller with a 6-inch-fociis lens ; the larger with a 26-inch-focus lens. 



The birds in the thicket below made merry, the siren of a passing 

 automobile stage sounded, and finally one of the parents relaxed its 

 vigilant sentry duty enough to go to the nest for breakfast. After 

 eating its fill it stood on the nest for a long time, its young one, 

 as if quieted by its presence, lying down in the nest for a rest. "When 

 I moved there was another inspection and then both parents stayed 

 for some time out of sight from the nest, calling as if they sus- 

 l^ected danger and were encouraging the young to leave. At any 

 rate, one of the fledgelings, as if in resjionse, flapped his Avings over 

 the nest again and again, his thin I'ch-heh-J.'ch sounding Aveak, in- 

 deed, compared with the strong dp-clp-clp of his parents. Presently 



