156 



AMERICAN FORESI'RY 



The plate. —Whether plates or films are used is a matter 

 largely of personal preference, although most naturalists 

 prefer plates. For snapshot pictures the more rapid 

 the plates the better, as they will permit of shorter 

 exposures. The above exposure was given for the 

 ordinary plate such as Seed 27, the speed of which is xl. 

 Seed 30, Graplex, or Lumi^re plates would permit 

 shorter exposures. For time exposures slower plates are 

 better, double -coated plates giving a wider range of 

 exposure and being more dependable. 



UNCONSCIOUS OF THE SHUTTER 



A chickadee portrait taken as shown in the preceding photograph. He looks 

 as if he was posing and was proud of the fact, but he does not know the camera 

 man is near. 



Making the exposure. — In making the exposure one 

 should watch the bird until it is in a good pose and mo- 

 mentarily at rest. Exposures made while the bird is peck- 

 ing food will usually be blurred. A slight sound will often 

 cause the bird to pause and look up, giving the desired 

 opportunity. 



By keeping out food all thiough the year a series of 

 portraits of many different birds can be secured all on the 

 same log. The author, for example, has secured photo- 

 graphs of nearly twenty species on the same spot in a city 

 yard, and the opportunities elsewhere near a woodland 

 would be far sujjerior. By having the box always in place, 

 even the most timid new arrivals do not realize when the 

 camera is substituted or placed beneath it and one need 

 never waste time waiting for birds to get accustomed to 

 the camera. 



We might now proceed to some of the more difficult 

 phases of bird photography. The same equipment with 

 the addition of the tripod will be sufficient for photo- 

 graphing birds' nests and eggs or young birds which prove 

 most fascinating to the amateur photographer. A word 

 of caution is, however, necessary. Young birds should 

 never be removed from the nest nor should they be dis- 

 turbed just before they are ready to leave. Young birds 

 are never brooded after leaving the nest and unless their 

 feathers are fully developed they cannot siand the rain. 



the sun, or the cold nights and usually fall victims to the 

 weather or their numerous enemies. Neither can they be 

 persuaded to remain in the nest when once thev have been 

 removed unless they are still helpless. One should wait 

 until they have left the nest of their o\\-n free will and then 

 catch them. 



In photographing nests and eggs one should be very 

 careful not to destroy any of the surrounding vegetation 

 which conceals them. It is usually necessary to press 

 aside a few leaves or even a branch, but these should never 

 be broken and should be carefully returned to their former 

 position when the photograph has been secured. The nest 

 should never be tipped to show the eggs. It is far better 

 to tip the camera by means of a "tilting top" (a device 

 that may be purchased for a small sum), and to pu.sh the 

 eggs to the far side of the nest where thc\- will show. In 

 arranging the camera an effort should be made to show 

 the surrounding vegetation and the nature of the retreat 

 selected by the bird so far as is possible. The accompany- 

 ing photograph of the floating nest ot the pied-billed grebe. 



BEFORE AND AFTER TAKING 



Young birds make fascinating subjects for the amateur photographer, especially 

 when the old birds will come to feed them. One should wait until they leave 

 the nest and then catch them. 



for example, shows it attached to the weeds fringing a 

 pond — the pond and the woodland in the distance. No 

 better description of the nest and nesting habit of the 

 grebe could be desired. 



Photographing the birds at the nest is perhaps the 

 most absorbing phase of the whole field of photography. 

 It requires the greatest ingenuity and skill on the part 

 of the photographer and at the same time brings him 

 closer to the intimate life of the birds than anything else 

 could. It peiTnits him unob.scrvod to view at arm's length 

 the home life of his subject — the sohcitudc of the parent 

 birds for their young and their little attentions for one 

 another — sometimes humorous, sometimes ludicrous, some- 

 times almost pathetic. 



Even greater caution should he used in photographing 



