RARE PICTURES AFIELD 175 



inches deep over the earth. The bird repeatedly 

 flew to the back of an oak bench on the veranda, 

 and with his feathers fluffed until he appeared 

 twice the size of an ordinary robin he sat a long 

 time looking into the house — sat so long, in fact, 

 that I was able to make several time exposures 

 of him. 



Another robin picture which is unique is that 

 of a male bird fi'om a nest built in the parting of 

 four quite large branches of a mulberry tree at 

 the same Cabin. Thoughtlessly, to see how much 

 they would use, I had provided these birds with 

 torn strips of white cotton, over which they 

 chattered and which they gathered so greedily 

 that they advertised their nest to all creation. 

 I had a ladder set up on a level with the nest a few 

 yards away and had been making a very complete 

 series of the home life of these birds. I noticed 

 that both the male and female had the habit when 

 they came to the nest with a beak full of worms 

 for their young of feeding them in what might be 

 considered turns, beginning with one and taking 

 the four in order. Sometimes the food would all 

 be gone before the fourth one got a bite. He 

 would be so disappointed that he would stand in 

 the nest, his beak wide open, and cry and beg so 

 pitifully that both of the old birds sometimes 

 resorted to the subterfuge of pretending to feed a 

 youngster, when they had nothing to give. They 

 would stretch to full height, draw up the neck. 



