Automatic Photography by Electricity 29 



Tlicii. wlicii you actually coninieuce operations, place the camera 

 ill position at tlic rjolit distance, taking advantage, if possible, 

 of any natural mound or rise of ground, but keeping the light 

 behind tlie camera. ^Vs you may take it for granted that a Lap- 

 wing will ncA er come on at first under two hours (it will nmch 

 more likely be foui-). it l)ecomes necessary to make a mental 

 calculation as to the position of the sun in two oi- four hours' 

 time, and aUow accordingly. This is really an important point. 

 'I'hen focussing must be most carefully done ; and those who 

 have ne\'er experienced the delights of lying down Hat in a 

 muddy field, and focussing a camera on the ground, will be 

 considerably surprised at the difficulty in^ohcd and the time 

 taken up by this essential operation. The lower the camera is, 

 the more difficult it becomes to focus sharply the foreground 

 grass as well as the exact spot where the ])ird is expected, and 

 the swing-back nnist be used to the very fullest possible extent. 

 Then the shutter is set, and the wires connected with the dry 

 battery, a proper circuit being arranged with the two terminals 

 of the shutter and the release on the nest, which oidy wants 

 completion by the pressure of the bird itself. The wires, 

 insulated with green silk or gutta-percha, nuist be hidden in 

 the gi-ass or bui-ied, the battery hidden with the camera by 

 being co^'ered with a brown or green cloth, and then artistically 

 disguised witli earth, stones, thistles, dry cow-dung, or anything 

 there happens to be ai-ound, and at the last moment, not before, 

 the slide withdrawn. It is a good plan to shield the lens with 

 a cap until everything is completed ; for on se\'eral occasions 

 I have gone through all these operations, generally an hour's 



