THE CAMKKA AMi 



\l I ACIIMENTS IN POSITION NEAR A lilRD-HATH. 

 NECESSARY TO DISGUISE THE CAMERA 



IT IS NOT 



How Birds Can Take Their Own Pictures 



By DR. E. BADE. Glen Head, L. I. 

 With photographs by the Author 



MAN is the friend of the birds. Their restless spirit brings life into 

 nature as they flit from bush to bush, or from tree to tree, or when they 

 fill the air of the forest and the meadow, the field and the garden, with 

 their beautiful song. Filled with the pulsation of life, they are happy and care- 

 free as long as the sun laughs from a clear sky, and know nothing of the sorrows 

 and cares of providing for a hungry stomach. They never sow — they only 

 reap — for everywhere food can be found in plenty. 



In the course of a year the entire history of bird-life unfolds itself to the 

 eager eye of the lover of nature. But the few happy and instructive hours which 

 can be devoted to the study of bird-life in the open are only too short. Then the 

 wish to fix the bird, its home, and its habitat upon the photographic plate 

 makes itself felt, in order, as he reviews the photos, to conjure back those 

 fruitful hours whose incidents are indelibly stamped on the picture. 



It is not too easy nor any too simple to take pictures of these lively little 

 animals, since many aids and professional secrets must be used if the resulting 

 photographs are to be a success. Of course, a good lens and an efficiently work- 

 ing shutter are essential. A double anastigmat lens will generally be sufficient, 

 especially if it is of excellent make. When these lenses are used at full speed — 

 and they must be used at full speed — they require accurate focusing, and this 

 can only be done with the device to be described. Although snapshots of 

 animals can only be taken successfully with such a lens, the plate will always be 

 underexposed. Therefore they should be developed in weak fixing bath which 

 develops the plate more uniformly than a normal or strong solution would. 



Developers for snapshots should always be diluted with water so that the 



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