. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . and. As weapproached a litde marsh island in our sail-boat, bands ofhovering, cackling gulls gave assurance of certain very first thing one of the men saw, on jumping from theboat, was a Marsh Hens nest with eight eggs. The over-arching of the grass revealed it. Very close by was anotherwith eight eggs, and still another with eleven. It was nowJuly 2, and these were second layings, for the Marsh Henshere begin their family cares in April or early May. Then wediscovered, here a
. Wild wings; adventures of a camera-hunter among the larger wild birds of North America on sea and land . and. As weapproached a litde marsh island in our sail-boat, bands ofhovering, cackling gulls gave assurance of certain very first thing one of the men saw, on jumping from theboat, was a Marsh Hens nest with eight eggs. The over-arching of the grass revealed it. Very close by was anotherwith eight eggs, and still another with eleven. It was nowJuly 2, and these were second layings, for the Marsh Henshere begin their family cares in April or early May. Then wediscovered, here and there on the marsh, the nests of theLaughing Gulls, hollows in piles of drift-weed, in each ofwhich were three drab-colored mottled eggs. VIRGINIA BIRD HOMES 129 Toward evening we landed upon Cobbs Island at the life-saving station which stands on piles at the edge of theimmense salt marsh. Here we were pleasantly entertained by Captain Jack and his family. A long bridge on piles leadsacross the marsh to the outer beach. These structures anda very few others loom above the water and the tops of the. YOUNG COMMON TERNS, READY TO ESCAPE submerged grass at high tide, and are all that are left ofa thriving village with schools and churches. The sea hasclaimed its own, and, never satiated, clamors for more. It isnot man who will say it nay. Next day we traversed the long bridge and found ourselvesupon the ocean front, which was backed by a wonderful ridgeextending perhaps a mile and composed entirely of shells, I30 WILD WINGS particularly of oysters, scallops, and sea-clams. Some of theterns by this time had young. The downy little fellows donot remain long in the home-nest, but wander about freelyover the warm sand. Natures protective coloration w^on-derfully blends them with their surroundings. When anenemy approaches, all they have to do is to squat and keepperfectly still, and the chances are that they w^ill not be no-ticed. At one place a Marsh Tern was making a great ado ov
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherb, booksubjectbirds
