56 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 



at once availeil herself of this means of entering her 

 home.^'* The male, however, as before, was more 

 wary. He had braved the camera to bring food to 

 his mate, but his offsjiring had apparently not so 

 strong a claim upon him. He would fl.y off in search 

 of food and shortly return with a caterpillar, then 

 perch quietly for several minutes a few yards from 

 the nest, when, repelled by the camera and attracted 

 by the food in his bill, he yielded to temptation, de- 

 voured the caterpillar, vigorously wiped his bill, at 

 once started to forage fi.)r more food, and returned 

 with it only to repeat his previous performance. 



Occasionally he uttered a low whistle, addressed 

 presumably to the female, and at times a chickadee- 

 dee-dee, which I interpreted as a protest to me, and 

 both notes were also uttered by the female. 



The latter took so kindly to the doorstep that it 

 was determined to give her a door, and to this end a 

 leaf was pinned over the entrance to her home in 

 such a manner that it swung to and fro, like the 

 latch to a keyhole. This clearly did not meet with 

 her approval, and at first she seemed puzzled to ac- 

 count for the apparent disappearance of the nest 

 opening. But in loss than a minute she solved the 

 mystery, pushed the leaf to one side, and disappeared 

 within. 



Returning to the nest on June 12th, nothing was 

 to be seen of either parent, and I feared that they or 

 their offspi'ing had fallen victims to the countless 

 dangers which beset nesting birds and their young. 

 Looking about for some clew to their fate, I found 

 on the ground, near the nest stub, the worn tail-feath- 

 ers of the female bird. The molting season had not 



