VHEFACE. ix 



We enjoy the gTatification of having' sent liosts 

 of amateur })liotogTaphers into the fields to study 

 wild life for tliemselves, and hail with extreme 

 l^leasure their efforts towards the attainment (jf pic- 

 torial truth and accuracy. In this book w^e tell 

 exactly and candidly how ^YQ work, and can only 

 hope that the results we are able to show will still 

 further stimulate a desire among-st those to whom 

 we appeal to Ijecome l^etter acquainted with the 

 birds and beasts of our land. 



Of course, w^e cannot hope to ^^lease everybody. 

 Men who love the ideal and men wdio centre their 

 affections upon absolute truth do not sit liarmo- 

 niouslv at meat together. Whilst regTetting- our 

 inability to meet the former entirely, w^e can say 

 that we have always striven to make our illus- 

 trations as picturesque as possible ; but a necessity 

 of our mission has been to render effect subordinate 

 to accuracy, and the value of this will, I think, be 

 admitted upon comparing my brother's photograph 

 of a Fulmar Petrel with any picture of the bird in 

 existence made by a pencil. 



Whilst the general public wdll, we hope, apjore- 

 ciate our efforts and the results we have obtained, 

 the field naturalist and the practical photograj^her 

 alone are in a position to understand the true 

 character of our difficulties. The man who essays 

 the task of photographing a wild bird in its native 

 haunts, for instance, soon begins to think that, if 

 he has not succeeded in solving the mystery of 

 perpetual motion, he has discovered the creature 



