158 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



those of men are complex. Yet a pair of Carrion 

 Crows would provide the most earnest observer 

 with honest work of a by no means light character 

 for a whole year. ' ' ' 



The camera brought this to the boy's attention 

 with still keener force. He had not anticipated 

 any great difficulty in taking snap-shots of birds 

 with the lens, for he was adept at snap shots with 

 a gun. Shan soon found, however, that all his 

 woods skill and knowledge were far too small for 

 the difficult work of photographing birds. You 

 can shoot a bird with a gun at a hundred yards, 

 but to shoot a bird with a lens you must be within 

 ten feet. 



It is a great deal harder to get within ten feet 

 of a wild bird than within a hundred, or even fifty 

 yards ! 



The lad's constant failures soon disgusted Bull, 

 and he sneered openly at the ' ' sport ' ' of shooting 

 birds with a camera. Shan, however, possessed a 

 distinct streak of stubbornness. His egg collec- 

 tion had been found worthy of praise, the Biologi- 

 cal Survey official had asked him to act as a volun- 

 tary observer and he was determined to make good 

 in his bird photography. So, every spare moment 

 he could get, he was off in the woods making ob- 



