INTRODUCTION. 



Very few persons as they look at pictures in magazines 

 or in books ever give an instant's thought as to the time, 

 the patience or perhaps hardships the photographer might 

 have endured in the making of them. With the general 

 public, the prevalent idea is that anyone with a camera of 

 any kind can take a "snap-shot" of anything and get a 

 good picture. As a matter of fact, very few good pictures 

 of any subject are ever secured by the commonly accepted 

 "snap-shot" method. Some thought and study, even though 

 it be done almost instantly, must be given as to the composi- 

 tion and the probable appearance of the finished picture. 



I have done nearly all kinds of photography, — land- 

 scape, marine, portraiture, pet animals, press photography 

 (which is very exacting), etc. I do not believe that any 

 other class of photography offers the difficulties or has as 

 large a percentage of failures as will be encountered by 

 one who essays photographing living, wild birds. 



Some of the pictures that follow were obtained with the 

 greatest of ease but they were of exceptional birds and I am 

 duly thankful to them for the consideration they showed 

 me. Others represent hours and even days of hard work 

 and frequent disappointments. It was only by the very 

 narrowest margin that the taking of one of the series shown 

 did not lead to the printing of my obituary. 



In the last chapter I give some details that may be of 

 assistance to those who wish to make pictures of birds. I 

 only speak of the difficulties here so that those who scan the 

 pictures on the succeeding pages may not think one can 

 grab up a camera, rush to the woods and take pictures of 

 birds offhand. Just remember that more than seventy-five 

 per cent, of the adult birds, whose pictures are shown, were 

 between three and four feet from the lens of the camera 

 and figure out how many birds you ever approached as 

 closely as that. 



