56 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 
at once availed herself of this means of entering her 
home. The male, however, as before, was more 
wary. He had braved the camera to bring food to 
his mate, but his offspring had apparently not so 
strong a claim upon him. He would fly off in search 
of food and shortly return with a caterpillar, then 
perch quietly for several minutes a few yards from 
the nest, when, repelled by the camera and attracted 
by the food in his bill, he yielded to temptation, de- 
voured the caterpillar, vigorously wiped his bill, at 
once started to forage for more food, and returned 
with it only to repeat his previous performance. 
Occasionally he uttered a low whistle, addressed 
presumably to the female, and at times a chickadee- 
dee-dee, which I interpreted as a protest to me, and 
both notes were also uttered by the female. 
The latter took so kindly to the doorstep that it 
was determined to give her a door, and to this end a 
leaf was pinned over the entrance to her home in 
such a manner that it swung to and fro, like the 
latch toa keyhole. This clearly did not meet with 
her approval, and at first she seemed puzzled to ac- 
count for the apparent disappearance of the nest 
opening. But in less than a minute she solved the 
mystery, pushed the leaf to one side, and disappeared 
within. 
Returning to the nest on June 12th, nothing was 
to be seen of either parent, and I feared that they or 
their offspring had fallen victims to the countless 
dangers which beset nesting birds and their young. 
Looking about for some clew to their fate, I found 
on the ground, near the nest stub, the worn tail-feath- 
ers of the female bird. The molting season had not 
