. Bird-lore . hardly have been told from any other hollow of the forestfloor. In this primitive cradle lay four big, blunt eggs. Their ground-colorwas an inconspicuous drab, with small blotches of darker brown and lilac. The Woodcock and Its Nest 221 When I next returned, apjiroaching quietly, I found the bird on the uj) my camera, ready for a long time-exposure, I crei)t nearer; step bystep, until I was within a yard of the nest. I took one picture as she faced me,as still as the sodden leaves on the ground. Then, backing out and apjjroach-ing from another direction, I secured a
. Bird-lore . hardly have been told from any other hollow of the forestfloor. In this primitive cradle lay four big, blunt eggs. Their ground-colorwas an inconspicuous drab, with small blotches of darker brown and lilac. The Woodcock and Its Nest 221 When I next returned, apjiroaching quietly, I found the bird on the uj) my camera, ready for a long time-exposure, I crei)t nearer; step bystep, until I was within a yard of the nest. I took one picture as she faced me,as still as the sodden leaves on the ground. Then, backing out and apjjroach-ing from another direction, I secured a nice side view. A few weed stems werein the way, from this ]K)sition, and I tried to remove them. One, which almosttouched her at one end, was safely pulled away, but as my hand graspedanother, wiihiii two inches of the bird, her nerves gave way. She sprang intothe air, and went off, fluttering down to the ground only a few yards I returned, after twenty minutes, she was on again, as steady as STILL AS THP: LEAVES OX THE GROUXD Young Woodcocks leave the nest \ery soon after they are hatched, and Iwas not able to see the young from this particular nest, who emerged from theirshells about May i. Several years ago, however, I came upon a Woodcocksnest, just after the emergence of the young. And of all the cunning little ballsof fluff you ever saw! Their long, stout bills made them look top-hea\y, andtheir yellow-brown down was mottled with darker brown above in thedaintiest way imaginable. When I looked away for a moment at the flutter-ing, frightened mother, I had hard work to make them out again, as theycrouched low in the nest hollow. So, heres to friend Woodcock I May he nest with us in ever-increasingnumbers, and may only his friends succeed in finding his homel The Carolina Wren in Beverly, Mass. By VIOLA E. CRITTENDEN. Beverly. Mass. FOR an entire week I have been the proprietor of a Carolina Wren. Idiscovered him by means of his striking song, early in the
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsperiodicals
