Bird- Lore the tree was encountered. It appeared easy enough from below, but I soon found that one's movements in a tree-top were of necessity somewhat restricted. After all, I had to focus by the scale, guessing at the distance. A tripod screw was lost in the operation, and later, in searching for the screw, my poclcetbook was discovered among the leaves. It had been unknowingly deposited there during my aerial performance. By the dark-room test the plates exposed on this trip were pretty much all a failure. Again (May 1 1 ) I climbed the tree and found no change except that the Hawk had added to the nest some old tent-caterpillar web mixed with small sticks and particles of decaying vegetation. Exposed three plates, and later discovered that two were light- struck and the third out of focus. . /£ - -, , The necessity of devising some way of focusing by the ground - glass was evident. On May 22 I found a very great change had taken place. In place of two of the eggs, there were two yellowish down-covered birds with exceptionally large heads and noticeably black bills and yellow ceres. It was a fasci- nating sight. The little fellows were undoubtedly Hawks, but very gentle and lovable they ap- peared to be just then. Exposed six plates. Strapped the tripod to limbs and tried to use the ground -glass, but something or other seemed always in motion and I had a feeling all the time that there would be disappoint- ments. Some small twigs with green leaves had been added to the nest. There was also in the nest a short-tailed shrew, its body being still warm. Mrs. Broad- wing had been about to prepare it properly for the youngsters, no doubt, when she saw us coming. June I I took with me to the nest a screw for firmly securing the cam- era in any desired position and thus dispensing entirely with the tripod. The screw was made by the local blacksmith, at a cost of twenty-five cents, TREE-TOP PHOTOGRAPHY Photographing the nest of a Broad-winged Hawk
