Page:Bird-lore Vol 01.djvu/377

 A Pair of Killdeer 149- When I returned to look for the young bird it had vanished. The coachman had had his eye on him only a moment before, and "he had just sunk into the ground, ma'am ! " It required the sharp eye of the gardener, who came up at the moment, to detect the little thing. "There he is," he said, pointing downward; and at my feet, just where I should have trodden had I taken the next step, lay the bird, pressed quite flat into a hollow of the gravel. He had learned his mother's tricks and was pla3'ing dead ! He allowed us to pick him up and examine him carefully, without a sign of life. I could not go again to the park until July 3 when, to my delight, the gardener told me the birds were sitting on a second batch of eggs. I should never have found the "nest" if the man had not P^^ KILLDEER Photographed from nature marked the spot with a wisp of straw on the turf near by. There were three eggs, laid on the bare gravel, matching it in their dark and light mottlings so as to be almost indistinguishable. The birds were now much bolder than in June, quite determined that I should not come near the eggs if they could frighten me off, and it occurred to me that they certainly came close enough to be photographed. So at 7 o'clock the next morning I was on the spot, accompanied by a friend with her camera — a 4x5 "Hawkeye. " There was no adjacent tree or screen of any kind, but we easily coaxed one of the birds into coming within 'snapping' range. As we gradually approached, both birds grew quite frantic in their efforts to lure us away, drawing nearer and nearer. When we persistently stayed close, one drew off, but the other evidently made up its mind that no matter what the danger was, those eggs must not be allowed to grow cold. I felt very sorry^