Page:Bird-lore Vol 08.djvu/23

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

An Experience in Tree-top Photography 5 the hillside, thread in hand and eyes fastened on the nest, I had my forebodings. Time passed — a generous slice of it — when suddenly Mrs. Broad-wing began saying something out loud in the woods right behind me. At once, with sinking heart, I realized how ill-protected I was from a Hawk-eye attack in the rear. Evidently she was perched where she could see me. It took her some time to express her whole mind, but at last she went sailing off with a few parting remarks whose personal application was not hard to get. YOUNG BROAD-WINGED HAWKS. JUNE o Note the meadow mouse and shrew on the rim of the nest No picture of Mrs. Broad -wing that day. Instead, another climb to secure the camera and place the dummy again in position. It was nearly a month (July 6) before circumstances permitted me to again visit the Broad-wings. It was with small expectation of finding any of them at home that I took my camera and crossed the river for a last friendly call. My state of mind may perhaps be imagined when I found not simply no Hawks, but no nest. A little search, however, revealed fragments of the nest here and there as it had been thrown from the tree. I at once began an investigation by interviewing a boy at the nearest house, a third of a mile distant.