92 PHOTOGRAPHY FOR NATURALISTS. 



perform. The ideal method is to borrow one's sitter 

 for a week and make friends with it. Such a course is 

 sometimes viewed with diffidence on one or both sides. 

 The photographer is more often invited to call and 

 bring his camera. The idea is that, when the camera 

 is set up, the owner will induce his favourite to adopt a 

 pleasing attitude, and the picture will then be taken. 

 The photography of strange cats or dogs resembles in 

 several respects the photography of strange children. 

 It is imperative for one thing that the dearest friend 

 should be out of sight and hearing. The intrusion of 

 a large badly focussed hand, even though it be shapely, 

 is to be avoided in an animal photograph, and the mere 

 fact of being alone will incline the sitter to sit still and 

 watch events. In all domestic animal work a hand 

 camera will be found useful, but it must be remembered 

 that the negatives so obtained must, for practical pur- 

 poses, be able to stand enlargement. If it be possible 

 to secure a half-plate negative in the first instance the 

 photographer should by all means do so, even though 

 this necessitates the use of the tripod. The photo- 

 graphy of cats stands in much the same relation to 

 that of kittens as the photography of birds to that of 

 nestlings. With a good light out of doors and kittens 

 confined within a certain space, a dozen Christmas 

 card photographs can be turned out in a morning. 

 They will all be pretty, for the sitters seem incapable 

 of adopting other than pretty attitudes and expressions. 

 Much the same feat can be performed with a row of 

 tiny nestlings on a branch. An adult cat, however, 



