121
Lake Umbagog
Outlet
1897
June 6
  A warm sunny day, the sky overcast with a veil of
thin clouds. Forenoon nearly dead calm; a light S.W. breeze
in P.M.
  Jim and I spent the entire morning in photographing
a Bronzed Grackle which had a nest (with a set of four
remarkably beautiful eggs) in a small, isolated hollow stub
on the north side of the Androscoggin not far from
the mouth of the Megalloway. The female was sitting hard
(the eggs had been incubated four or five days) and after
she had become accustomed to the boat she would usually
return to the nest in a few minutes after the camera
was adjusted. But to get it finally fixed in the right
position was a matter requiring much time & patience for
the water was at least eight foot deep and the bottom
so hard that it was almost impossible to make the
long poles, which we had lashed to the tripod legs, take
a firm hold. We succeeded in the end, however, and
the pictures came out unusually well.
[margin]Photographing
nests of Bronzed
Grackle[/margin]
  We also photographed another Grackle's nest, not far off,
in the top of an exceedingly narrow cavity and in the
early afternoon I got a good negative of a third which
Watrous found & which was built behind a large scab
of loose bark exactly after the manner of a Brown Creeper's
nest - a unique situation as far as my experience
goes.
  There must be at least twenty pairs of Grackles breeding
in the neighborhood of the Outlet. They seem to live at
peace with all their smaller bird neighbors but when a
Crow appears there is great excitement and from far &
near they gather to mob & drive him away.