112 



BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 



sacrificed that article of apparel to sucli an exliibi- 

 tion of bravery. 



As I advanced I began to discover nests. Some 

 were on the upland, snngly placed in the grass or 

 near a large stone/* and with pretty surroundings of 

 yarrow, sumach, or bending grasses ; others were on 

 tlie little shelves of the steep westerly bank of the 

 islet ; and others still on bits of seaweed among the 

 pebbles and rocks which here formed the beach. ""^ 



No attempt was made 

 to take advantage of 

 the concealment of- 

 fered by the groups 

 of bowlders scattered 

 along the beach, and 

 beneath which the 

 birds might have hid- 

 den effectively, it be- 

 ing presumably their 

 object to select a 

 site from which they 

 could readily detect 

 any cause for alarm. 

 As a rule, their nests 

 contained one or two 

 eggs, only a single nest being seen with three. 

 Although by this time birds of the year should 

 have been on the wing, few young of any age were 

 seen — a condition which was doubtless explained by 

 the fact that the birds, thus far, had been too much 

 occupied furnishing the members of boating parties 

 with souvenirs of their day's outing, to give atten- 

 tion to their own household affairs. 



54. Nest 



i' Ttrii en upland. 



