HUNTING BIRDS WITH CAMERA 



about three minutes, he tried to rush her. She darted 

 off when he was six feet away and again he struck his 

 pose, proud even in defeat. 



Not certain of success, owing to the darkness of the 

 woods, I left the camera set over night, well covered 

 wath a rubber cloth. It was well I did so, for the plates 

 were still badly under-exposed. I was back the next 

 morning soon after nine o'clock. The bird was on, 

 and the light much better, shining from in front of the 

 nest. I made the exposure and set the shutter for 

 another trial, this time for prolonged time exposure. 

 It took the bird over three hours to come back, but the 

 w^eather was warm and the eggs would not suffer. 

 This time the shutter went wrong and stayed open. 

 Again I set it and late in the afternoon obtained an- 

 other shot. The bird stayed perfectly still when I 

 pulled the string which opened the shutter, so I let it 

 remain open for ten seconds, and this time I had a 

 well-exposed plate. The first one of the morning was 

 also good. So at last I had my reward for three days* 

 labor, walking twenty-four miles and driving sixteen, 

 to complete my series of game bird portraits. 



That very day my next door neighbor found another 

 nest, with eight eggs, within ten minutes walk of home. 

 It was in a beautiful grove of white birches under the 

 trunk of a fallen tree, which was prettily overgrown 

 with vines. This bird also was shy and would not let 

 me come within sight of her on the nest without whirring 

 off, not skulking like the other. I had learned now 



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