THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF REPTILES. 



47 



Male and Female Great Newts. 



with a subject which will be more fully dealt with in 

 the chapter dealing with the photographing offish. 



There is only one satisfactory time in the year for 

 the photography of newts, and that is in the spring, 

 say April and May, when they have taken to the water 

 for family reasons. It is for this short period only 

 that the male appears in his full glory of crest and 

 colour, and that the female does her best, in rather a 

 dingy way, to emulate her lord and master. Among 

 the three species the palm of beauty must undoubtedly 

 be assigned to the common smooth variety. The 

 illustrations give some notion of his form, but the 

 colours he assumes must be seen to be realised. He is 

 run very close, however, by his small palmated relation. 

 The crest of the latter, as can be seen from the figure, 

 is not of so ambitious a nature as that of the smooth 

 newt. His markings, however, especially those on the 

 under surface of the tail, are very beautiful, and, as the 

 predominating hue is purple, of a fairly easy nature to 

 secure in their correct values. If we add to these 

 attractions the curious filament which terminates his 



