WEEK-ENDS WITH THE PRAIRIE FALCON 



619 





AMONG FALCONS THE FEMALE IS BULKIER THAN THE MALE 



Loud screams from the base of the cliff instead of from the nest greeted the author one morn- 

 ing when the youngsters were about 37 days old. All had left the home ledge at the blind and the 

 most enterprising one departed up the canyon when approached, leaving his nest mates for a few 

 final poses. 



and chilly and were trying to huddle under 

 the scales — a poor source of warmth and 

 comfort. 



Longing for a series of pictures of the 

 young and parents together, but lacking 

 a telephoto lens, I recalled the inventive 

 Private Jones (familiar to the lovers of 

 Bruce Bairnsfather's wartime drawings), 

 who constructed "Little Plugstreet, The 

 Sniper's Friend," a camouflaged sheet-iron 

 tree trunk. Within it the inventor passed 

 a hair-raising morning, overtaken by day- 

 light and under heavy fire while bogged 

 down in a Belgian turnip field. 



Our "Little Plugstreet" was a chunk of 

 concrete cast around two boxes set side by 



side — one large enough to contain a nine- 

 by-twelve-centimeter still camera with a 

 very fine but short-focus lens, and the other 

 a small moving-picture machine. 



With much tugging and puffing, we lugged 

 this heavy contraption to the top of the 

 cliff and swung it down to the ledge on the 

 quiet morning of ]\Iay 6, while both parents 

 circled and screamed. 



Arrival of this large freight shipment on 

 the ledge had the young well bluffed. When 

 I came to interview them they were all 

 backed up against the wall in a "sell your 

 lives dearly, boys," pose, and they opened 

 their mouths in unison every time I made 

 a sudden move. 



