MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



study of birds so interesting. Before I realized it, the 

 larger part of the illustration of this book had been 

 completed, in connection with bird work, and for no 

 purpose save the pleasure it gave to me and the delight 

 of my friends. 



Later when I realized that the idea of a moth book 

 had taken definite shape in my brain I studied the illus- 

 tration I had, most critically, striving to decide if it 

 would be possible to jjroduce better and more accurate 

 pictures by drawing my specimens. This led to close 

 comparison between such photographs as I had made, 

 and the drawn illustration of the same species in moth 

 books now on the market. Very little investigation 

 along this line proved that the worth of a drawing 

 amounted exactly to the art of the artist. It was as 

 close as he could copy, no more, no less. The work of a 

 good camera, rightly operated, was reproduction; the 

 living creature placed before you as it was evolved by 

 the Almighty — not as it was coj^ied by man. The sur- 

 roundings presented as they were, not as they were 

 imagined. This meant work, five or six years of exact- 

 ing, unceasing work, but it i^roduced the real moth and 

 its true environment as close to life as it was possible to 

 put it on paper. 



The illustration of every molh book I ever have seen, 

 that attempted coloured reproduction, proved by the 

 shrivelled bodies and unnatural position of the wings, 



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