102 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



brood had at last rewarded their long patience. 

 Backwards and forwards flew these devoted parents, 

 giving no heed to anything save feeding and watch- 

 ing over their young. What else was there to think 

 of ? For nearly a month they would do nothing else. 

 All would be devoted to the rearing of their off- 

 spring ; everything sacrificed, and apparently with 

 pleasure, too, to their welfare. 



The young Chicadees grew apace as is the habit 

 of young birds. From tiny grey atoms, large- 

 headed, blind and naked, having in them but the one 

 instinct — that of raising their heads at the slightest 

 sound and opening their mouths for the frequent 

 meals, they gradually turned into small, open-eyed, 

 down-covered balls of fat. Then piii feathers began 

 to cover their growing bodies in hnes that ran 

 lengthways, leaving bare places between. Then 

 the pin feathers opened, and from them emerged 

 the soft young feathers. Hour by hour showed the 

 covering up of the bare places by the spreading of 

 the feathers ; and the small bodies were clothed. 



The young birds were growing very large for the 

 snug nest and without doubt must soon be thinking 

 of seeking the wide world, where there was room 

 and to spare. Day by day I had watched them as 

 they grew, and my watching was very nearly the 

 cause of a most unfortunate accident. In my 

 endeavours to see inside the nest I, quite uninten- 

 tionally, broke off a large piece of the decayed bark, 

 thereby exposing the nest and its valuable contents, 

 very much to my own and the Chicadees' disgust. 

 Loudly did they express their feelings as they flew 

 about my head. Evidently they expected to see 



