. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . Out on the open sand again, we sit down. In a momentor two the confiding, though nervous, little Sooties, whoseeggs are all around us, begin to alight, first at some distance,but soon within three or four yards. When there is quitea mass of them, the focal-plane shutter drops with a bang,and up they go, to return in a moment, and quietly steal totheir nests in plain sight or under the bushes. Now we will take a look at the little pier. The Noddiesand the Man-o-War Birds love to roost on i
. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . Out on the open sand again, we sit down. In a momentor two the confiding, though nervous, little Sooties, whoseeggs are all around us, begin to alight, first at some distance,but soon within three or four yards. When there is quitea mass of them, the focal-plane shutter drops with a bang,and up they go, to return in a moment, and quietly steal totheir nests in plain sight or under the bushes. Now we will take a look at the little pier. The Noddiesand the Man-o-War Birds love to roost on it in the morningsun, though, somehow, the Sooties seem not to relish thecompany, or else their tastes are different. There they sit, asusual, perhaps twenty Noddies and half a dozen of the great ON LONELY BIRD KEY 97 hooked-billed, long-winged pirates. Though at times un-friendly, the similarity of their dark plumages — perhaps— gives them now a sense of having some things, after all,in common, and they sit together as though ever the bestof friends. The big fellows are not over-tame, so from the. NODDIES, the male STANDS BESIDE HIS MATE AS SHE BROODS nearest bushes, fifteen yards away, we use the telephoto , upon my knees, head covered with the focus-cloth,looking intently into the hood of the reflex camera andwatching the image of the birds on the ground glass, keepinggood focus upon them as I advance, I creep nearer and movement is so gradual, and the object so nondescript,that they are not alarmed. At length I am very near, and 98 WILD WINGS make an exposure. Probably the noisy Sooties have alreadydeafened them, for they do not seem to hear. Changingplates, I again advance. When I am almost at the wharf,they start to fiy, and just as part of them have launched out,I snap once more, and get an interesting picture — as it turnsout. This can be done again and again. From here it is but a few steps to the main resort of thebreeding Noddies. Most of the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherb, booksubjectbirds
