HUNTING BIRDS WITH CAMERA 



nearly an hour near one place, all of a sudden a brown 

 bird darted up from almost beneath his feet, and there 

 lay four handsome drab eggs, spotted with lilac. I had 

 advertised a reward for a Woodcock's nest, so early the 

 next morning the youth came and told me, and I went 

 with him immediately in a fever of excitement, for in 

 all my travels I had never yet found a Woodcock's nest. 



The alders grew in clumps about twenty feet high in 

 the part of the swamp to which my guide took me. 

 Presently he stopped to look. " She's on the nest," he 

 said. "Don't show me," I exclaimed, "let me make 

 her out." I had to look very sharply, but quite soon I 

 spied her, about fifteen yards away. It was a wonderful 

 protective blending of colors. The varying shades of 

 rather bright browns and yellows of the dead leaves 

 almost perfectly corresponded with the browns in the 

 plumage of the bird. 



The spot she had chosen was on the mound around 

 the base of one of the innumerable clumps of alders. 

 There lay the bird among the dead leaves, without any 

 protection of undergrowth, right out boldly in the open, 

 relying solely upon the blending of her color and form 

 with the surroundings. Then I approached nearer, 

 more cautiously than I needed to have done, for I could 

 hardly bring myself to believe that she would sit there 

 if a man came striding up close to her, so plainly was 

 she now visible to me. Yet she stirred not; her large, 

 soft, brown eyes, the most conspicuous part of her, did 

 not move or wink. , , 



16 



