1S87.] Correspondence. 1 60 



from the negatives, and thus secure the most accurate class of figures of 

 living birds. 



Again, if we photograph, or rather print them on non-albumenized 

 paper, they may be colored very nicely from the original subject. By the 

 use of an 'instantaneous shutter,' I find that birds may be obtained in 

 nearly all positions, and I know of no pursuit so thoroughly full of inter- 

 est for the ornithologist as this photographing of birds in their native 

 haunts. It requires, too, all the ingenuity at our command, to sav nothing 

 of patience, to pursue it successfully. Birds may be photographed in the 

 most engaging of their avocations, and in the most interesting attitudes 

 for illustrations that one can possibly imagine. Out here on the prairies 

 we will often find an old stump or stalk, upon which a dozen or fifteen 

 species of birds will alight during seven or eight hours, on almost any 

 day suitable to use the camera upon them. Now all we have to do is to 

 properly set up our instrument near this point, conceal it in such a way 

 as not to alarm the birds, focus it sharply upon the perch where thev 

 alight, place on your 'snap shutter,' and fix it with a string, and then re- 

 move yourself far enough away to pull it. when you have a subject sitting 

 to your liking. Birds that you have wounded but slightly may be photo- 

 graphed under the most favorable circumstances ; they may also be taken 

 while sitting on their nests; in actual flight, however swift; in pursuit of 

 their food; in leading about their young; indeed, the list is almost an 

 endless one. 



Rookeries also offer admirable subjects, and a splendid field is open at 

 those wonderful resorts of water-birds in such places as the Bahamas 

 or the Alaskan coasts. In the former locality, during the breeding 

 season, I have seen the time when I could have secured excellent pictures 

 of the majority of species in the most interesting positions possible. 



Even now, there are a great many of our birds that still remain to be 

 figured, and a number that have already been produced. — yes. in some 

 cases by so famous a master as Audubon, — that will repay reproduction. 

 Take for instance his Myadestes tozvnscndi ; it is an exceedingly indif- 

 ferent representation of the bird, and figures only the female besides. 

 Moreover, it is evident from his illustration that Audubon was under the 

 impression (he never having seen it alive) that its action was more or less 

 akin to some such bird as a Redstart, whereas its behavior in life fails to 

 remind us at all of any such species. 



If I remember correctly, my photographic outfit cost me something like 

 $125, but very good ones, I believe, can be purchased for ahout $50, which 

 will take an excellent 5X8 picture. The art, in its present state of per- 

 fection, is a delightful study and brimful of interest. Never shall I forget 

 my sensations, as, shut up in a small, dark room, lit only by the ruby 

 lantern, I studied to develop my first plate of a living animal, taken bv 

 myself. It was a fine old Neotoma, and I can well remember my enthu- 

 siasm as I saw his form slowly, but sharply, come out on the plate, as I 

 rocked it to and fro in the developing tray. 



R. W. Shufeldt. 

 Fort Wingate, N. Alex., Feb. 10th, 1SS7. 



