. Nestlings of forest and marsh . l,the anger of both parents increased at anyapproach to the nest. Fortunately for thepoor orioles, their babies were hatched andgone before the young kingbirds made theirdebut, or I fear even their courage wouldnot have withstood the tyranny of the fly-catchers. The male stood daily upon a con-spicuous perch with a chip upon his shoulder,240 CCEUR DE LION as it were, and dared any bird to fly near now realized the cause of his hatred of thecrows and jays. That wise little head wellknew who were thieves and murderers of in-fants, and bravely he defended hi
. Nestlings of forest and marsh . l,the anger of both parents increased at anyapproach to the nest. Fortunately for thepoor orioles, their babies were hatched andgone before the young kingbirds made theirdebut, or I fear even their courage wouldnot have withstood the tyranny of the fly-catchers. The male stood daily upon a con-spicuous perch with a chip upon his shoulder,240 CCEUR DE LION as it were, and dared any bird to fly near now realized the cause of his hatred of thecrows and jays. That wise little head wellknew who were thieves and murderers of in-fants, and bravely he defended hishome against allsuch. To photographthe nest as it wasin the tree was at-tended with somany difficulties asto be impractica-ble. An attemptto photograph theyoung birds laterresulted in a battlewith the parents during which the youngtook flight. The old birds would circlearound and above the tree, swooping downand striking the hat of the Man with theCamera in a way quite startling. Whena nestling flew out, the father followed him,. A tyrant fledgeling 16 241 NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH keeping just underneath him in a way thatsuggested catching him in case of a this manner he escorted him to a placeof safety, and returned to the contest just intime to assist another fluttering youngster toreach port. Meantime the mother wasguarding two on a bush fully one hundredfeet away. We had waited too long. Theirflight was strong and self-reliant, and therewas no hope of inducing them to pose. Wewere obliged to content ourselves with afledgling from another nest found later inthe Spring. This little fellow was the onlyone at home when we called for him, hisolder brother having taken flight at our ap-proach. We coaxed him to sit still a minute,and then, having snapped the camera, wedrove on. When we rode by two hourslater, he was still posing in the same spotwith a contentment indicative of wants wellsupplied, and we knew that his dotingparents had not neglected him. 242 A WOOD
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1902
