RARE PICTURES AFIELD 185 



turned directly towanl the lens and there were 

 pieces of board and sticks that stuck up in the 

 foreground so that they were out of focus. I 

 worked with the lens between the spacings of a 

 wire fence. The only way to remove the obstruc- 

 tions was to climb the fence and approach to 

 within two or three feet of the bird. I did not 

 feel that she would endure this on first acquaint- 

 ance, so I made a preliminary exposure too late 

 in the afternoon for a really good picture and went 

 away congratulating myself upon what interesting 

 work I shoidd do in the morning. When morning 

 came I found that the bird had been bound to her 

 nest the afternoon before by the appearance of one 

 or both of her young. As they were safely de- 

 livered from the shells and she had brooded over 

 them all night and possibly fed them several times 

 before my arrival, the spell was so broken that she 

 went tearing from her nest like a mad creature 

 while I was still several rods away. On my return 

 from this nest, I had an encounter with a cross 

 mare nervous over a colt barely able to walk. 

 This was one of my most threatening and dangerous 

 experiences afield. 



In an orchard adjoining the meadow stood a 

 decayed old apple tree having a flat piece of 

 weather-beaten apple wood, which boys had un- 

 doubtedly thrown among the branches to knock 

 down fruit, lodged on a low limb. The piece was 

 wedged at one end between two branches, lay 



