. Bird lore . as inter-ested to see whether, after repeated trials and failures on the part of the oldbird, she would fathom the difficulty; but it proved entirely beyond the scopeof her past experience. I secured a number of photographs of the old bird withthe young at her side but as soon as they were safely ensconced upon herback, they snuggled down beneath her wings, hardly ruflBing her feathers,and never deigned to raise their heads. The light soon became too poor forphotographing so I freed the young and awaited the result. The old birdbacked up to them, as she had done scores of times b
. Bird lore . as inter-ested to see whether, after repeated trials and failures on the part of the oldbird, she would fathom the difficulty; but it proved entirely beyond the scopeof her past experience. I secured a number of photographs of the old bird withthe young at her side but as soon as they were safely ensconced upon herback, they snuggled down beneath her wings, hardly ruflBing her feathers,and never deigned to raise their heads. The light soon became too poor forphotographing so I freed the young and awaited the result. The old birdbacked up to them, as she had done scores of times before, raised her wings inthe approved fashion and started slowly off. The young were soon safely upon 2SO Bird - Lore her back, and this time continued with her. I looked for some expression ofsurprise or satisfaction, but not one of them blinked an eye. As though thiswere the first time she had invited them to ride, she swam unconcernedlytoward the middle of the pond, where I left them in the gathering CALLING TO ITS YOUNG Eight days passed before another trip to the pond was possible. Neitherthe old nor the young of the first nest were seen on this visit, but the eggsin the second nest were hatching. The Grebe was incubating when I arrivedat eight in the morning, but as I approached she covered the eggs and further actions, however, entirely changed; for, instead of disappearingas formerly, she came up again a few yards away, and began beating upon thewater with her wings even more frantically than had the first bird. She con-tinued diving and splashing until the camera was ready, when she inconsider-ately desisted. Only one of the eggs had hatched, and the young had been covered with asmuch care as the eggs. The eggshell was gone. Concealing the camera near At Home with a Hell-Diver 251 the nest, I pulled my boat into some bushes about fifty feet away, from whichan unobstructed view could be obtained. It was evident that the instinct toprotect the nest h
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
