Nov., 1910 
III Rl) NOTES FROM SOUTHWESTERN MONTANA 
203 
tained two pictures on this first occasion, but never got another after that. The 
male gave me a good picture, but the female thrust her head into the shadow of the 
opening. Efforts to take pictures of the young were also useless, for up to the day 
they left the nest, June 26, they would become frightened as soon as handled and 
couldn’t be induced to perch or pose in a satisfactory manner. 
We moved camp again June 27, going south to Tittle Pipestone Creek. Here 
the country was less rocky in character and the elevation somewhat lower, 5,200 
feet. There were many open grassy hills intersperst with clumps of tall firs and 
groves of aspen. I had little time now to hunt for nests and found nothing note- 
worthy until July 6. Then I saw a pair of Williamson Sapsuckers ( Sphyrapicus 
thyroideus') about a group of old fir stumps, and soon discovered the nest in one of 
them. The nest was about eight feet up and contained young that were 
very noisy. 
It seemed at first as tho there was no chance to photograph these birds; but I 
soon notist a dead limb on a nearby stump, to which I believed I could fasten the 
Fig. 71. WILLIAMSON SAPSUCKERS AT NEST HOI.E; TWO PICTURES-: 
male at left, female at right 
camera. When the opportunity came, I placed the camera on its tripod, straddled 
the tripod over the limb and lasht the whole thing firmly to limb and tree with a 
long rope. I experienced some difficulty climbing and focusing without disturb- 
ing some of the ropes, but I finally managed to do it. Even now the light was not 
very good, for there was less than an hour during the day when the nest hole was 
in sunlight and this light was not from in back of the camera but to one side so 
that it produced long shadows. The birds were not very shy and I believe I 
might have easily workt without a blind, but I had little time to waste in waiting, 
so hilt the blind and attacht a thred to the camera. Even now I had the 
trouble of coming out and climbing the tree to change the film after each picture. 
The young birds were well grown and the parents did not enter the nest hole but 
merely thrust their lieds into the opening to feed the young. 
Occasionally while the parents were away a young bird would come to the 
