328 C. Naether—A mateur Photographer meets a Humming Bird Family


body ! I wondered bow long that little fellow bad lain on tbe cold

wet ground during that long, rainy nigbt.


When I arrived tbe Sunday following, tbe sun shone bright in tbe

charming camellia garden, which, though filled with hundreds of

perfectly formed blossoms, yet bore only the smell of the wet earth,

for camellias have no fragrance. Never have I seen insect or Humming

Bird visit a camellia blossom. An overhead sprinkling system operates

once or twice a day to provide necessary moisture for the growing plants,

but dangerous moisture for the little nest. When Mrs. H. B. selected

her nesting site, she did not in all probability take into consideration

the daily drenchings her roofless home would have to endure. At any

rate, I found the nest tilted again and occupied by only one youngster,

who was quite well feathered—his back being a bright green. Of the

other fledgeling I could find no trace whatever. The survivor had spread

himself out in the roomy nest, as may be seen in one of the accompanying

photographs. When I touched his now quite long beak with a twig,

he obligingly opened it wide so that I was able to get the wide-open space

into the picture. When I tickled him a second time, he withdrew into

the recesses of the nest and turned a frightened eye on me.


Scrutiny of the first dozen exposures showed that most of them had

very little contrast—the nest among the dark greenery was hardly

visible. For this reason I used a piece of white cardboard in later pictures

to brighten the background. Mother Humming Bird did not like this

change in the surroundings of her home at all. For several minutes

she watched me silently. The camera was set at 1/25 second with a

6*3 lense opening, the morning being reasonably bright. Suddenly

she darted to the nest to feed the youngster, which she did as non-

chalently as if nothing had disturbed her, enabling me to get a good

close-up. While the light background shows her as well as the youngster

to much better advantage, it tends to diminish the naturalness of

the scene.


All in all, this amateur bird photographer drove 120 miles,

spent four half days and considerable money and effort to

secure the pictures that accompany this article—which are the best

from several dozen. Doubtless a more experienced bird photographer

could have done much better. But who is to say that he would have



