Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1909-04-22
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no vegetation OF any sort available, 1t
was not possible TO add anything 10
disguise the appearance OF the tent. 1t
must therefore have been most con.
spicuous object. and yet, as there was
no indication Of any human being, the
birds appeared to take very little no.
tice OF 1t.
Afterwards camped out at the edge
Of q creek, about the margins of which
they were feeding. They had no hest.
tation in passidg me on the further
side Of the creek at distance Of
about ten yards. Besides avocets.
both oyster-catchers and red-shanks
fed within a short distance. and neith'
er OF these birds is particularly con.
fiding, the redshank In particular be.
ing Of very suspicious nature. But
the best and most satisfactory test, as
well as the most interesting. was ex.
perienced at the nest Of purple
heron. All the herons are VIGOROUSLY
shy and difficult of approach. and the
purple heron is certainly as shy as
any OF them.
In former years | had spent many
hours, and on one occasion a whole
day, in the vain attempt to photograph
this bird on its nest. Success was
only eventually obtained by the use Of
an automatic electric device, by which
the heron photographed itself auto
matically without knowing anything
about it. I had found nest well
situated for the attempt, for although
in shallow water, 1t could be ap.
preached dry-shod, and was able 10
set up the camera and tent within six
yards in the shelter of small sallow
bush already growing there. The ad-
dition Of more sallow branches made
the tent very inconspicuous indeed.
/ hardly dared to breathe lest she
should discover my whereabouts; but.
although | was so close to her, she
climbed on to the nest and stood erect
in splendid position.
Quie close to my. camera here we
found a nest of SAWS warbler. from
which the bird slipped of as we ap.
preached. had suspected for some
years that this bird nested in this par.
ticular locality. but had never before
succeeded in finding nest. In fact,
this was the first had ever seen, al.
though l had heard the curious reel.
ing note many hundreds of times In
Hungary and in the Dobrudscha. From
the nature of their usual haunts amid
the almost impenetrable recesses Of
the densest reed beds, the tangled un.
dergrowth is so extremely thick as to
render successful search very diff
cult. This nest was ON the ground,
perfectly concealed by the under
growth, and was entirely composed Of
dry sedge. In this singular cup Of
brown and withered leaves were five
eggs, thickly freckled all over with
ashy brown spots. Very distinguished
looking. eggs they were and quite I'M
like any others with which | am &C.
quainted. The nest also is quite dis.
tinctive. The Dutch call the bird
"Schnoor," and ] have also heard 1t
called Schneider" which signifies,
believe, a tailor, probably from the
Keeling note resembling the !
whir of a sewing machine.
The spoonbill also breeds In this
but I was told by old Jan, the !,
keeper, that the birds were very shy. |
So many people had visited them re.
Gently, intent on photographs, that
they had, according to him, refused to
90 to their nests, and had dropped :
food for their young from above with.
out alighting. Undep--these circum.
stances l was prepared for q long
wait, and perhaps failure. and set up
the tent about eight yards from the
nest, with but faint hopes Of success.
sat on an old nest, covered by the
tent, with my legs In the water, and |
was agreeably surprised to see the
,poonbill standing up on its next Just
IN front Of me long before I had BE-
yun to expect It. was able to secure
.hree photographs without alarming
{ at all.
Within an hour I had set ND the
,amera. exposed three plates. packed
ID again and departed, leaving the
'lrds very little disturbed.