x PREFACE 
many useful lessons, whilst the beauty of 
their forms and plumage must entrance us. 
It is a matter of self-congratulation for us 
that so many of our charming feathered 
friends find a suitable home, and, in the case 
of the yearly visitors only to our shores, a 
convenient feeding and nesting ground so 
near to the vast, busy, noisy and smoke- 
begrimed metropolis, adding so much to the 
charms of a country walk. 
The pleasant work of photographing birds 
from actual /ife can fall only to the specialist 
or leisured few, for, as is well known, the 
sitters must be artfully deceived and waited 
for, often hours at a time. But even when 
achieved, the results are in many cases 
disappointing, as difficulties not yet con- 
quered by the photographic art, chiefly in 
connection with the rapidity of the plates, 
present themselves. 
Live birds, too, when photographed in 
the wild state, and especially when on the 
nest, present little or no contrast from their 
surroundings (indeed this is one of Nature’s 
safeguards for them), and therefore make 
poor pictures. Further, they almost always 
exhibit an unnatural alarmed look, because, 
