EGYPTIAN BIRDS 5 



embark on a libel action on the one side, or act as 

 an advertiser of any maker, not even of the maker 

 of my own glass, I praise or blame none, but suggest 

 with all earnestness to every one who desires to 

 really enjoy the study of bird life on the Nile or 

 in their own country, without fail to get a glass 

 that suits them, and which they can handle with 

 lightning speed. I dwell on this because I have 

 met so many having most expensive modern glasses 

 who say they cannot find any pleasure in using 

 them on birds, and I generally find that it is owing 

 to tjie small field that their glasses cover. Some- 

 times these glasses are of quite extraordinary 

 power, so that I have heard a man declare he could 

 see a fly crawling over a carved face on the tip-top 

 of some far-away temple, but that type of glass is 

 not what is wanted for rough and ready quick field 

 work, and it is of no more use than the three-feet 

 long telescope still beloved by the Scotch stalkers. 

 Birds rarely if ever allow time for one to lie down 

 on one's back, and with help of stout stick and the 

 top of knee make a firm stand on which to place 

 the glass and get the range. Over twenty -five 

 years ago I wrote on "Nature through a Field - 

 glass," ^ and although since then one has had to alter 



' In The Art Journal. 



