AMONG THE WaTER-FowL 
Before leaving, I found it easy to photograph 
these areas of nests from the boat by snap-shots, but a 
very different matter to have any of the Grebes in the 
pictures, as they were quite shy of the boat. Finding 
that they w ould not come near enough for a snap- 
shot, I stood up an old tripod, with a focus cloth 
over the top, im the grass a little ‘back fromthe 
‘east side,’ leaving it for the birds to become 
accustomed to the sight. Next day, the wind was 
raging, and my companions did not think I could 
carry out my plan of getting out there alone in the 
boat to spend the day by the colony. After a long, 
desperate effort I managed to reach it. The bide 
were mostly on their nests, ignoring the tripod. 
The pathway to success now seemed easy; but 
thorny did it prove. Moving the tripod a little 
nearer to the nests, I adjusted the camera, attached 
the spool of thread, and allowed the boat to drift off 
to leeward, paying out the line. So busy was I that 
I had not roetoetl a gathering squall, that just at this 
untimely juncture str rhell Nouan with furious blast. 
The shutter was sprung, and I had to lose the end 
of the thread, not being able to check the progress ot 
the boat in time. As it was, the camera was nearly 
pulled or blown over into the water. Nothing but 
the fact that I had spliced poles to the legs of the 
tripod and driven them firmly into the qa pre- 
vented what would have been to me out there in the 
wilderness an irreparable disaster. ‘Then ensued a 
mighty struggle to get back to the camera to pro- 
tect it from the rain. It was almost impossible for 
one person alone to push that clumsy boat through 
the tangle of grass and slime against ‘the wind, biel 
12 
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