14 Pictures of Bird Life 



one can l)e carried about at tlie same time as a "iin or 

 rifle, or on horseback or camel-back, often leads to its 

 being included in an outfit, and used for work for M'hich 

 it is absolutely useless. I wonder liow many yards of 

 film have been exposed on objects completely out of their 

 range, and de\'eloped after returning home, ichoi it is too 

 late to rcctifij the inistdkc. It cannot be too strongly 

 insisted on tliat serious work, sucli as Xatural History 

 work is. can only be accomplished l^y taking troul^le and 

 by using proper instruments, even though they are liea^y 

 and extremely awkward to cai'ry. I do not deny for a 

 moment that good subjects luive l)een obtained with a 

 pocket camera, but I say unhesitatingly that for every 

 chance of a successful sliot the carrier of a pocket camera 

 only misses a lumdred for want of a longer focus lens, 

 and in all probability the one solitary opportunity would 

 have had more justice done to it with another instrument. 



After ten years' experience 1 only remember one 

 occasion wlien a small camera would have been useful, 

 and then, tliougli I could liave exposed more plates, I 

 slioidd certainly have been disappointed at the small size 

 of the birds depicted h\ it. 



Suppose for a moment that it had been possible for 

 Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-BrowiTs expedition to Siberia, 

 Lord Ulford's yachting cruises after birds in the Mediter- 

 ranean, and the Crown Prince Rudolphs expeditions to the 

 Danube and Palestine to have been accompanied by a com- 

 petent photographer pro\'idcd with the modern appliances 



