10 THE CONDOR Vol. XVI their whereabouts in a perfectly open place some forty feet from shore and 15o from the road. Passing as though unheeding, I sought cover, arranged the cam- era, made a trial focus, and set out to return. When exactly opposite, I brought the machine to a quick stop, threw off the motor and swung on the birds. At the sound of the shutter they leaped clear of the water in their astonishment, and al- though they fell back agaiu, regarded me xvith ugly suspicion.. Again I snapped and again the birds leaped two feet in air. With this by way of inauspicious be- ginning, and xvithout a shred of cover, I advanced directly and very slowly, snapping every ten feet or so, until I stood, with plates exhausted, at the water's edge. Returning an hour later with a fresh relay of plates I repeated the tactics of cautious advance, and took up the active work of photographing at the point where Fig. 8. WITH WINGS UPLIFTI?D; WHITE-FACED GLOSSY IBISES AT LAGUNA BLANCA; TAKEN AT A RANGE OF 25 FEET From a photograph, copyright, 1913, by W. I,. Dawson I had left off. Not content with this, I waded out toward the birds, taking carc not to make a sound in withdrawing the feet from the deep mud, until I had the birds at twenty-five feet, practically indifferent to my presence. Here I blazed away to heart's content. That the birds were nowise constrained by my presence is evidenced by the postures of repose, of stretching, yawning, or taking of baths, and the search for food, all faithfully recorded. Truth to tell, I did overstep the limits of the birds' patience at last by at- tempting another advance, and just as my last footfall was sinking at the prede- termined distance of fifteen feet, the Ibises rose in high dudgeon. circled to a height of half a mile, then moved in a southeasterly direction till lost from.sight. But I make no complaint; here was heavenly sport while it lasted.
