. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . e days, I began workby nailing up low in a near-by tree a small box with a roundhole in one end and a cloth over it, in rude imitation ofa camera. The hawk was so shy that she would fly evenbefore I came within sight of the nest. I gave her about THE NEW SPORT OF HAWKING 277 a day to study the instrument, and then screwed it aboutfive feet above the nest, pointed down at it. When I cameagain I rejoiced to find she had not deserted. So I replacedthe box with the real camera, focused and ma
. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . e days, I began workby nailing up low in a near-by tree a small box with a roundhole in one end and a cloth over it, in rude imitation ofa camera. The hawk was so shy that she would fly evenbefore I came within sight of the nest. I gave her about THE NEW SPORT OF HAWKING 277 a day to study the instrument, and then screwed it aboutfive feet above the nest, pointed down at it. When I cameagain I rejoiced to find she had not deserted. So I replacedthe box with the real camera, focused and made ready, andcovered it with the same cloth. This done, I attached to the shutter my long, strong thread,dropping the spool end to the ground and laying out the lineof communication to a bower which I had previously builtunder some thick hemlocks, as far away as I could see thenest through the trees, where I hid myself, lying fiat onthe ground and peering through a loop-hole. For half anhour all was silent. Then the hawk began her clatter nearby, flitting nervously from tree to tree. After a while she. coopers hawk incubatingthe wildest hawk can be photographed upon the nest 278 WILD WINGS suddenly darted on to the nest and I made the exposure,without causing her to fly. It would have been successful,save that, in setting the camera, I had accidentally exposedthe plate, and so had a double picture. A subsequent at-tempt was entirely successful, though the hawk almost foundme out, for she alighted close above my head and keptme lying face downward for ten minutes without movinga muscle, while the swarms of mosquitoes were doing theirworst. Since then I have learned that hawks — notably the largerkinds — seem to know when a person has not left the woods,and will often refuse to approach the nest until one has reallygone. The best way to deceive them in such a case is to takea companion to the spot, get well hidden, and then have theother noisily withdraw. The magnificent Ospr
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjobh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds
