Over-feeding was but temporary with our birds. On the 8th of August the migratory instinct prevailed over ease, indulgence, friendship, and the Cardinal with his brood left the house where he had been so well entertained, to return no more. No more? Who shall say of any novel that it can have no sequel? Massachusetts may yet become the permanent home of the Kentucky Cardinal, the descendant to the third and fourth generation of Louis and his mate.
BY DR. THOS. S. ROBERTS
Director Department of Birds, Natural History Survey of Minnesota.
With Photographs from nature by the Author.
CATBIRD AND NEST
T
he subjects of this sketch had located their bark- and root-lined nest of coarse sticks, four feet from the ground, in a little oak bush surrounded by brakes, sunflowers, and hazel. Instead of being, as usual, in the midst of a dense, and, therefore, dark thicket, this nest was quite in the open, shaded by only a few overhanging, leafy branches of small size. Its exceptionally favorable location and the apparent tameness of the birds suggested an attempt at avian photography, and the undertaking was entered upon at once, a very considerable fund of interest and enthusiasm having to take the place of any special previous experience in this line of work. After clearing away a little of the overhanging and intervening vegetation, the camera was placed with the lens not more than two feet from the nest, this being necessary in order to secure an image of the desired size with the short focus lens at hand (a B. and L. Zeiss Anastigmat, Series II A, 61/2 × 41/4, focal length 53/8 inches). Fifty feet of rubber tubing, a large bulb, and a field-glass made it possible to watch developments and carry on operations from a safe distance. But, although the camera was nearly concealed with ferns and leaves, this day's proceedings were not rewarded with much success. The birds proved exasperatingly timid, and returned only after prolonged waits, to disappear instanter on the click of the shutter (a B. and L. iris diaphragm shutter). So we left the field, not disheartened but bent upon improving our paraphernalia. A day or two later found the camera again in position, but this time with tripod green-painted and the whole unsightly top enveloped in a green hood with only a small aperture for the lens. This ruse succeeded fairly well, and during the three or four hours that the light was good on this day, and during a like period on a subsequent day, a number of exposures were made that resulted in an interesting series of negatives, giving good prints and still better lantern slides.
