CHAPTER III. 



THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



T T may seem, in a sense, pre- 

 sumptuous to endeavour to 

 treat of the subjects included 

 ^ under the above heading in 

 a single chapter. The true 

 explanation, however, of the 

 writer's intention lies in the 

 Hedgehog. fact that, as regards the shy 



mammalia of these islands, his results have not been 

 such as to justify him in being didactic, while, as 

 regards birdlife, the published works of the Keartons, 

 Pike and others, tell their own story. 



Without going so far as to say that nothing further 

 remains to be told, it may be confidently asserted that, 

 of all specialised branches of photography, that which 

 deals with birdlife has at present been the most ex- 

 haustively treated and excellently illustrated. Nor is 

 this surprising when we consider that, species for 

 species in this island, the birds outnumber the animals 

 by at least five to one, that the birds-nesting instinct 

 has at some time or other been strong in every healthy 

 minded male, and that birds are not only easier to 

 sight, but easier to watch, than our diminutive and, 

 for the most part, nocturnal mammalia. 



