=50 Camera Craft Notes. f ^"'" . 



^ ■ L!-.! April 



Simple Devices. — The few brief months of the nesting season 

 come and go, and at the end of the season, as the enthusiastic 

 bird-photographer goes through his hst of discarded negatives, 

 he often thinks regretfully of the fact that eight or nine months 

 may elapse before he will have another opportunity of pitting 

 his skill with the camera against wild birds. However, this 

 thought should not trouble him very much, for, by the exercise of 

 a little patience and care, he can find plenty of opportunities for 

 artistic work among the birds in almost any month of the year. 

 In the summer, isolated pools of fresh water in scrubby country 

 are almost certain to be used by birds for drinking and bathing. 



White-bearded Honey-eater. 



If a stick or stone be placed in the centre of one of these pools, 

 birds coming to drink will invariably perch on it as the highest 

 point of vantage. 



Birds may be attracted by keeping a shallow tray, cut 

 from an old kerosene tin, filled with clean water. Birds 

 in the neighbourhood should be liberally fed with bread-crumbs. 

 In the past few years I have secured a number of photographs 

 through keeping a drinking tin in a convenient spot. A Yellow- 

 breasted Shrike-Robin {Eopsaltria aiistralis) was photographed 

 while on the ground at Easter time, when I was accompanied by 

 my friend, Mr. Maurice Thompson, R.A.O.U. We saw a pair of 

 Robins feeding in an open situation, where a hole had been dug 

 in the sandy soil, and in less than half an hour, after we had 

 generously assisted the birds to obtain food, one had become so 



