The Woodcock 245 
took him so long to find this one. He finally decided 
that it was owing to the position of the bird on the 
nest: when he had seen her before she was facing 
the north, now she was facing the south. We were 
standing within twenty-five feet of the bird, but 
I had not yet seen her, and even with the help of my 
friend it took me fully a minute to locate her. After 
she was once separated from her immediate sur- 
roundings, however, it was easy to see her, for, the 
nest being so shallow, the full body of the bird was 
in view. 
The next thing to be considered was the photograph- 
ing of the bird, and that, too, with a tripod camera. 
How near the camera could be placed without 
frightening her away was problematic. My friend 
suggested that I probably could not approach nearer 
than eighteen or twenty feet. Accordingly the camera 
was set up at about this distance and two exposures 
made. I then walked nearer the bird and remained 
for half an hour, chatting meanwhile with my friend, 
who was about thirty feet away. As the bird did not 
stir, I believed that I could photograph her at closer 
range than before, so I set the camera in position and 
made two exposures. 
My friend could scarcely believe what he saw; 
never before had he seen a woodcock so closely ap- 
