302 Illustration of Birds Nests by Photography. [Sess. 



Among those who have worked at this difficult subject, 

 perhaps no one has been more successful than Mr E. B. Lodge 

 of Enfield, brother of the well-known bird-illustrator, Mr G. 

 E. Lodge. He has, with marvellous patience and skill, 

 succeeded in obtaining some very good pictures of various 

 species of birds on the nest or feeding young. An interest- 

 ing account of his method of work will be found in the 

 ' Photogram ' for October and November 1894. Though 

 birds'-nest photography is only of recent date, a large number 

 of ornithologists have already adopted the camera. Among 

 others, Dr K. Schufeldt of the New York Museum has got 

 some very good results, showing nests of various American 

 species. The first book dealing exclusively with this subject 

 was by the Messrs Kearton — ' British Birds' Nests,' published 

 by Messrs Cassell & Co. in 1895 ; and the same authors have 

 recently published two more volumes on the same subject. 

 There is also being at present issued in parts, by the firm of 

 David Douglas, Edinburgh, an edition de luxe of birds'-nest 

 photographs, under the title of 'Among British Birds in their 

 Nesting Haunts, illustrated by the Camera,' by Mr Oswin Lee. 

 The title-page of vol. i. of Messrs Harvie-Brown and Buckley's 

 ' Fauna of the Moray Basin,' representing a heron sitting on 

 her nest, is reproduced from a photograph from life by Mr 

 Lee, and is one of the most successful things ever attempted 

 in this very difficult line of art. Perhaps it takes a naturalist 

 who is also a photographer to fully understand the difficulties. 

 It will thus be seen that already a considerable literature has 

 sprung up on this subject. 



A few words may now be given on the methods and 

 apparatus used by me in obtaining photographs of birds' 

 nests. I may premise that the entire labour of finding the 

 nests, as well as of reaching and photographing them, de- 

 veloping the negatives obtained, and preparing the slides 

 therefrom, has been done by myself without assistance, so 

 that I trust allowances will be made for amateur work. 

 People who know nothing of photography, and even a few 

 who do know something of it, have asked me if I used a 

 kodak or hand-camera to obtain nest photos with ; and they 

 seemed surprised when I explained that the work was by no 

 means a case of " press the button and we do the rest," and 



