Amongst 
the Birds. 
037) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
Amongst the Birds. 
By ATKINSON WARD. 
Many people of mature age find themselves 
unable to appreciate a collection of birds’ eggs, 
however fine or large it may be, but a series of 
photographs taken direct from nature interest 
them at once. The reason is not far to seek. 
An empty eggshell is practically a dead object 
when arranged and labelled in museum style, 
whereas a photograph represents wild nature, and 
arouses an interest in living things. The value 
of museum specimens cannot be overestimated, 
but it is of a cold and scientific kind, and fails to 
stir the more kindly and appreciative feelings 
we experience when visiting the Zoological 
Gardens or a private aviary. 
Difficulties of Nest Photography. 
The work in connection with nest photography 
is of a most varied and fascinating order. There 
is something fresh to contend with every time 
one makes an exposure, and the search for nests 
suitably situated is often a long, although not a 
tedious, one. Twenty nests may be found, but 
often only one will serve as the photographer’s 
subject, and there may be peculiar difficulties 
attending it. Perhaps it is too high, then some¬ 
thing must be procured for the operator to stand 
upon, and when one is perched at an elevation 
varying between two and six feet, or even 
more, the position is often more amusing than 
safe. Perhaps there is not sufficient light in 
the nest, and if the sunlight never penetrates 
there, or one cannot wait until the sun reaches 
a more favourable position, light must be re¬ 
flected into it by the use of a mirror. The nest 
may be in a bed of reeds or rushes, and then one 
often has to wade knee-deep into the stream. A 
false step at this juncture might plunge one’s 
photographic apparatus into the water, and such 
a mishap would be disastrous to it. These and 
many others are the pleasant diversions which 
serve to keep one wide awake. The work is 
easier early in the year, while the hedgerows are 
yet bare of leaves. When the summer is ad¬ 
vancing and there is an abundance of foliage 
everywhere the work can only be carried on 
under much greater difficulties. 
Differing Nests of the Thrush and Blackbird. 
The Song Thrush and the Blackbird are 
amongst our earliest builders, and they fre¬ 
quently nest in exposed situations eminently 
suitable for photographic purposes. Most of us 
know the mud-lined nest of the Thrush, con¬ 
taining its four or five blue eggs blackly dotted 
towards the larger end, and who amongst us 
does not regret that such beautiful colouring 
evades the camera’s magic? But the nest and 
its surroundings and the shapely formation of 
the eggs are faithfully recorded, and this it is 
that arouses the interest of the most apathetic. 
To an untrained eye the nests of these two 
birds appear very much alike, but there is really 
a great deal of difference. Both line the interior 
with mud, but the Blackbird adds a further 
lining of grass bents. The Thrush’s is deeply 
cup-shaped. After the half of a circle has been 
reached, the walls, always of a uniform thick¬ 
ness, are built up considerably higher, whereas 
the Blackbird’s never extends above the half¬ 
circle. The mud lining becomes a hard, dry 
cake, almost like a brick, and during the pro¬ 
cess of incubation it holds and gives back heat 
to a degree which is truly astonishing. 
Plover’s Nest and Eggs. 
These obvious points, although they concern 
two of our commonest nests, are well worthy of 
notice, and a host of others must reveal them¬ 
selves to us as our interest in the study deepens. 
The Throstle's Music. 
When the Thrush ■ is perched on the topmost 
branch of a tall tree piping his morning or even¬ 
ing hymn I always fit his song with Tennyson’s 
immortal lines : 
“ Summer is coming, summer is coming, 
I know it, I know it, I know it, 
Light again, leaf again, life again, love again, 
Yes ! my wild little poet.” 
Tennyson wrote those lines to the Thrush’s 
melody. The interpretation is very real, and 
bird lovers are the poet’s debtors for the beauty 
and truth of the lines. He had an exquisite 
