PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS 33 



effort most bars to good pictures can be surmounted and 

 a good photograph secured, although geographical dis- 

 tribution, or inaccessible nesting-places or the shyness of 

 the birds, make it impossible in some instances. How- 

 ever, it requires time, caution, experience and a good 

 working knowledge of how to use a photographic outfit 

 to the best advantage to secure first-class pictures of 

 some birds in their natural surroundings. 



I have resorted to practically all kinds of devices or 

 blinds, as natural foliage, pits, caves and the umbrella 

 tent. I have found the latter to be the most efficient, 

 convenient and easily transported. 



All birds, from tradition or inheritance, have a 

 deeply-rooted fear of mankind. However, their parental 

 instinct has remained strong and the bird photographer 

 may utilize it in overcoming that timidity and fear, and 

 thus be enabled to come in close touch with them during 

 the brooding period. Birds, even of the same species, 

 manifest much diversity of temperament, so you cannot 

 tell in advance how any bird will behave at the nest in the 

 presence of the camera. The use of the tent, in such 

 cases, will be of great assistance. From this private box 

 the naturalist may observe minutely every mood and act 

 of both old and young birds in their unhampered sur- 

 roundings, an advantage that can be secured in no other 

 manner. 



Proximity to birds is best obtained by letting them 

 approach you, waiting patiently in the vicinity of their 

 known resting places, feeding grounds, watering places 

 and nest-sites. The larger birds, as Hawks, Ducks and 

 Herons have a *' pursued alertness,^' while smaller birds, 

 as Warblers, Vireos and others, are possessed of a ''nat- 

 ural timidity." Every effort should be made to rob the 

 birds of all alarm and catch them in their natural poses. 

 This requires a knowledge of the birds' usual tempera- 

 ment. Avoid all quick motions of the body and hands, or 

 the breaking of dead twigs, when near birds. When the 

 incubating instinct is fully established the setting bird 

 will permit of close approach and thus even time expo- 

 sures may be made. In many timid birds parental love is 

 so firm that it completely overshadows fear and all sense 

 of danger. 



