i897"9 8 -] Illustration of Birds' Nests by PJiotography. 303 



that a hand-camera was in nearly every case utterly useless. 

 It was as far back as 1891 that a friend showed me some 

 prints of terns' nests. These he had got himself with a 

 quarter-plate stand camera, after having wasted a lot of time 

 in attempting to work with a kodak. In the spring of 1893 

 I began to photograph on my own account. I used till the 

 summer of last year a quarter-plate Baroness type camera, 

 with a special adaptable stand, and for lightness an Eastman 

 roll-holder and film. But the sole advantage possessed by 

 a film is its lightness : in every other respect it is far inferior 

 to plates or cut films, is much more troublesome to manipulate, 

 and considerably more expensive. A couple of years ago a 

 good deal was heard of the capabilities of the telephoto lens, 

 but after a trial of this I was forced to come to the conclusion 

 that for this class of work it is practically useless, on account 

 of the enormously increased exposure required with the tele- 

 photo, and the greatly increased size and weight of the ap- 

 paratus necessitated by the very heavy lens. ' Mr Lodge has, 

 however, obtained some results with a modification of his own 

 of the telephoto lens ; but, as a rule, he works without it. In 

 the summer of 1896 I obtained a Shaw's pocket half- plate 

 camera, and adopted cut films. These I have found usually 

 very satisfactory, though after all there is nothing so good as 

 glass plates ; but their weight in the case of half-plate size 

 becomes a serious consideration when one has to carry the 

 whole outfit — camera, stand, lenses, dark slides, and plates, 

 &c. — for twelve or fourteen hours at a stretch over the highest 

 mountains in Britain. The Shaw's pocket half-plate is a 

 wonderfully light and compact little instrument, but has the 

 fault of not extending sufficiently far to permit of close views 

 being obtained of small nests. A light double-extension half- 

 plate camera of ordinary make would probably be more gener- 

 ally suitable. 



As regards the difficulties encountered in photographing 

 birds' nests, these are undoubtedly very great, especially if 

 any nests beyond those of the ground-building species are 

 attempted. Of all the enemies of the birds'-nest photographer, 

 the greatest is wind, and the lighter the camera the more is 

 this felt. It is no slight trial to endurance and temper to 

 have to cling in a precariously balanced position on the ledge 



