40 Sketching and Photography 
I cannot say, I merely attempted to draw what I saw. With the 
advent of photography, absurdly enough, all this was changed and 
the average critic who had ridiculed a sketch was willing enough 
to accept a photograph as absolutely correct. It is needless 
to explain that distances and depths can be and are frequently 
grossly exaggerated in photographs, whilst mountains and cliffs 
are equally absurdly dwarfed. For this reason, as will be noted, 
I have given very few general views in this book, simply because 
the cameras I work with are not suited for such purposes. The 
exception is where in a photograph of a nest at close range some 
of the country immediately below comes in; here the impression 
produced is at times singularly realistic. 
For water-colour sketching nothing can equal for compactness 
and convenience Roberson’s ‘‘Combination” sketchbook and 
paint-box. The latter carries the eight necessary moist colours 
and brush and the book measures over all 4} in. by 83 in. 
I have never been without one (or its equivalent) for over 
thirty-three years and before the present pattern appeared | 
designed a make-shift one of my own. The opportunities for 
sketching on such expeditions as mine are simply boundless and 
in fact are only limited by the time available. Although, upon 
the introduction of the daylight-loading hand-camera, I instantly 
adopted it as an adjunct to my favourite pursuit, I still look back 
with satisfaction on the hundreds of water-colour sketches I made 
in all sorts of wild regions and remote spots of the glorious views 
which lay before me. Inadequate and crude as are many of these 
sketches, they give an idea no camera work can pretend to of the 
heights and distances, atmosphere and colour amid which my 
beloved birds live. 
But the camera is of course unsurpassed for the faithful 
delineation of all details. In my own particular line, although 
photographs may and do fail lamentably to show the majesty of 
