124 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



to my taldng temporary possession of it. So I felt 

 sure that she recognised her friend of the previous 

 day. A few moments sufficed to arrange the 

 camera in a place where the light was bright, 

 and when all was ready to my satisfaction, I took 

 tlie little fellow, who had been quietly sleeping in 

 the warm sunlight, and set him on my finger. 



Soon he called lustily for food, and it was 

 strange to see how quickly his parent heard and 

 understood. In a minute or two she came hurry- 

 ing along, carrying in her beak a daddy-long-legs, 

 and, after pausing on the camera to see that all was 

 right, she flew on my hand, and calmly fed her 

 hungry little one. With my disengaged hand, I 

 pressed the bulb, and a picture was secured. 



The daddy-long-legs served only to whet the 

 appetite of my small friend, who cried out eagerly 

 for more. Again the industrious pro^ader went ofi: 

 in search of other and larger insects. She was 

 away for some time, but what she brought back 

 fully compensated for the long wait — of perhaps 

 four minutes. It was nothing more nor less than a 

 huge brown grasshopper, nearly as long as the small 

 bird himself. Again was the camera used as a 

 halting-place, and again did she fly on my hand. 

 Hungry though the little fellow may have been, 

 he was unable to swallow so large a mouthful, and 

 he dropped the grasshopper into my partly closed 

 hand. Unfortunately I had just pressed the bulb 

 and was therefore unable to take a photograph of 

 the interesting proceeding that followed. 



Quite naturaUy the mother bird was anxious 

 that so bountiful a supply of food should not 



