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88 THE CONDOR Von. XI of the male Curlew I had angered on my preceding trip across the prairie. The post, remnant of a removed fence, was in the midst of a long knoll-side, stretch- ing a mile in either direction, and served as a vantage point for the Curlew in guarding his home. I explained to my particeps crimins that while the female Curlew is sitting on her eggs, the male is loafing somewhere within sight of the nest, ready to defend the premises in case of threatened danger to his home. We found the male there, feeding carelessly. The first thing, in order to impress upon my friend's mind (that is, such portion of it as was not occupied with picture) the great difficulty in finding a nest of the Curlew if one doesn't know how to do it, I directed him to make a mental note of the place where we first attracted the Curlew, so as to make an estimate of the distance from it to the nest (if we should find it).? From the place where the Curlew settled down near us and angrily cackled the first time, my friend afterward guessed the distance to the nest to be over a half mile. And you who live in the west know how deceptive distances are out here. The general theory of finding a Curlew's nest lies in this fact: the male, while the female is sitting, will follow you if you go toward the nest, or leave you alone if you veer away from the general direction toward it; and the nearer you get to the nest, the more angry and threatening becomes the male in showing his dislike of your presence near it. Now, finding a nest of the Curlew is a trade secret; and while willing to show my friend the nest, it wasn't necessary that I show him how to find the nest, for his hobby was pictures, you will remember; so why strew one's pearls before the unappreciative? If he ever becomes an egg- crank and wishes me to show him how to find the nests, I shall be glad to offer him the courtesies of the profession. In this instance, however, having ideas of his own, he proposed that we separate, upon my explaining to him that all de- pended upon the actions of the bird and that we must be guided solely by those; if the Curlew chose to act up, all right; and if not, there was not the remotest likelihood of our finding any nest. In my own course, separated from him, I followed my usual tactics, gradually getting into closer quarters with the gallant old bird and calling my friend to me often enough to keep him in the fighting and to allow him to draw his own conclu- sions regarding the modus operandi of locating the nest. The knoll, which was only of very slight grade, was crossed by a road about a quarter of a mile from the starting post. We crossed the road and continued the chase in the adjoining pasture. At length, an hour and fifteen minutes after the chase began, I saw the female spread closely upon her nest ahead of us. Ah, there was the picture--no, the reality in every interesting feature--for where can you show an egg-crank a more pleasing sight than a live Curlew hovering her nest? That was the picture we didn't get, and I still believe I saw the real picture, and what we carried back on our plates was a mere suggestion of what the bird-lover saw and carried home. Look at the picture and judge for yourself. As I write this I see in memory that mother Curlew flattened over her eggs, and I long for the days to come again when the Curlews will lead me a merry chase. Several days later that same old egg-box and camera were concerned in another affair worth mentioning. My fellow-hobbyist was absent, having gone out of town to take some pctures; but the original man with a hobby was there. I was wandering along a dry water course, having frequent patches of weeds and sprouts, suggestive of nests of Marsh Hawk or Sharp-tailed Grouse. In fact, I had seen several times a Hawk quartering along over the locality, and I started in to search the rose-patches for a nest. You understand how a fellow, when he once gets