BECOMING AN ILLUSTRATOR 53 



woman's work. My methods must be followed by 

 any one who desires to accustom wild creatures to 

 a state of fellowship with humanity. In order 

 to do this it is necessary to move slowly, to live 

 among the birds until one thoroughly understands 

 their characteristics and habits, to remain near 

 their locations until they have become sc accus- 

 tomed to one as a part of their daily life that they 

 will be perfectly natural in one's presence. The 

 best friend I ever had in field work, Mr. Bob 

 Black, an oilman operating leases beside the Wa- 

 bash River, spent his spare time for several seasons 

 locating nests for me. When I was extremely 

 rushed, during the brooding months of May and 

 June especially, by copying my methods he fre- 

 quently trained families of birds for me so perfectly 

 that they would endure my presence close enough 

 to a nest to allow me to begin work with brooding 

 pictures at the time of my first visit. He used a 

 soap box set on stakes for a camera, his coat for 

 a focusing cloth. With these he imitated my ap- 

 proach and work so closely that the birds paid no 

 attention to me when I began operations. 



Each student of bird life will rate the intelligence 

 of the birds according to his ability to make friends 

 with feathered creatures, to insinuate himself into 

 their home life and to learn their secrets for himself. 

 People who have not had much contact with 

 them are the ones who insist that birds act solely 

 upon instinct and are very wild. I have been 



