198 Birp Lire AND BirD PHOTOGRAPHY. 
can be obtained by lashing three pieces of stick to the legs of your 
tripod, while you focus from a ladder or from your assistant’s 
back. To photograph the birds themselves, it is, of course, 
necessary to frighten them as little as possible. Mr Kearton, who 
may be regarded as the pioneer in this branch of photography, 
made use of a stuffed bullock, in which he hid with his camera 
near the nest. He also worked from under the shelter of a stuffed 
sheep and an imitation rock. Personally, I have not tried these 
dodges, but I have noticed as incubation advances that the bird’s 
fear of man lessens proportionately as its eggs near the final 
stages of incubation. Having found the nest of a bird I wish to 
photograph, I make an imitation camera and tripod out of an old 
cardboard box and three pieces of stick, and this I place some 
distance from the nest. Every day I move my “ dummy ”’ nearer 
the nest, till at last it is at the spot where I should like to have 
my real camera. On the fateful day I substitute the genuine for 
the false article, I attach thirty feet of india-rubber tubing con- 
trolling the pneumatic release of my shutter, and I lie down 
behind some convenient bush or depression in the ground and am 
covered over with grass and leaves, and wait for the bird’s return. 
In this way many of our slides have been obtained. The greatest 
nuisance the bird photographer has to contend with is what is 
technically termed “movement.’’ There is no dodge for over- 
coming this, but a lens working at a wide aperture is essential for 
good results. Mr Legard and I use an Aldis Lens working at 
F.6, and for nests and eggs employ Edwards’ “ isochromatic 
plates,’’ with a plate speed of 56, and for birds Ilford “ monarch 
plates,’’ with a plate speed of 200. The old-fashioned pyro 
developer, though messy, is still the best, but we have obtained 
many excellent negatives with other developers. As I have a 
number of slides to show I cannot now deal further with photo- 
graphic details, but if there is time at the end of my lecture I 
shall be glad to answer any questions I can. Throughout the 
exhibition of these photographs I would ask you to remember 
that in nature birds’ nests, and also the birds themselves, often 
closely resemble their surroundings, so that in some cases you 
may have a little difficulty in making out the pictures thrown on 
the screen. 
Our first photograph is of a bird’s nest which is probably 
familiar to most of you. Here we have a blackbird’s nest and. 
