FRIENDS IN FEATHERS 



their homes. When birds are bound to their nests and young 

 by the brooding fever, especially after the eggs have quickened 

 to life, it is possible to cultivate, by the use of unlimited patience 

 and bird sense, the closest intimacy with them and to secure 

 almost any pose or expression you can imagine. 



In living out their lives, birds experience anger, greed, jeal- 

 ousy, fear, and love; also they have their playtimes. In my 

 field experiences I once snapped a Chicken-hawk with a true 

 expression of anger on his face, because a movement of mine 

 disturbed him at a feast set to lure him within range of my 

 camera. No miser ever presented a more perfect picture of 

 greed than I frequently caught on the face of a young Black 

 Vulture to which it was my daily custom to carry food. Every 

 day in field work one can see a male bird attack another male and 

 make the feathers fly, if he comes interfering with his nest and 

 mate. Did humanity ever present a specimen scared more than 

 this Shitepoke when he discovered himself between a high em- 

 bankment and the camera, and for a second hesitated about decid- 

 ing in which direction to fly? Sometimes by holding food at un- 

 expected angles young birds can be coaxed into the most as- 

 tonishing attitudes and expressions. 



I use four cameras suited to every branch of field work, and a 

 small wagon-load of long hose, ladders, waders and other field 

 paraphernalia. 



Backgrounds never should be employed, as the use of them 

 ruins a field study in three ways. At one stroke they destroy 

 atmosphere, depth of focus and natural environment. 



Nature's background, for any nest or bird, is one of ever- 

 shifting light and shade, forming the atmosphere without which 

 no picture is a success. Nature's background is one of deep 

 shadow, made by dark interstices among the leaves, dense 

 thickets or the earth peeping through; and high lights caused 



9 



