SESSION 1897-98. 



I.— THE ILLUSTRATION OF BIRDS' NESTS 

 BY PHOTOGRAPHY. 



By Mr H. EAEBUEN. 

 {Read Nov. °4, 1897.) 



It has long been a desire among ornithologists that a series of 

 accurate and reliable representations of birds themselves, with 

 their homes and haunts, should be obtainable. Of course we 

 do not despise the many charming woodcuts, drawings, &c, of 

 numerous able artists ; but the older of these are usually sadly 

 inaccurate in detail, while the work of the newer school, though 

 more true to Nature, still leaves something to be desired as 

 regards actual life and truth. The manifold and ever-increas- 

 ing application of photography to industrial, scientific, and 

 artistic objects pointed out the possibility that here we have 

 a means of obtaining those ornithological records which we 

 desire. Accordingly, we find that within the last few years 

 almost a new school of bird illustrators — using that term to 

 mean the bird as a living, sentient creature, and not as an 

 expressionless stuffed mass of feathers — has arisen. The 

 difficulties in the way of photographing wild birds themselves 

 are, however, enormous, and camera ornithologists have been 

 practically forced to confine their efforts to the obtaining of 

 photographs of birds' haunts in the nesting season, with 

 pictures of their nests, eggs, and young, — only a few of the 

 tamer species submitting themselves to the camera lens, 

 rather than abandon their charge. 



VOL. III. x 



