128 PHOTOGRAPHY FOR NATURALISTS. 



the case of facial expression the muscles, through long 

 practice, tend to adapt themselves to certain positions, 

 not necessarily of repose, but certainly of equilibrium, 

 in which they will remain for an appreciable time, 

 without any conscious effort on the part of the owner. 

 The artist, or photographer, who succeeds in portray- 

 ing such an expression will have secured a characteristic, 

 though perhaps not a flattering, likeness. To say that 

 a man takes badly is to imply either that his features are 

 exceptionally mobile, or that he is dissatisfied with his 

 own characteristic expression and declines to adopt it 

 before the camera. Fortunately, the element of vanity 

 in the character of wild animals is generally small. 

 The fact that their whole aim in life is to live them- 

 selves and reproduce their kind ensures that their 

 characteristic expressions and attitudes shall be of a 

 less complicated and confusing character than those of 

 the human race. 



In all animals two characteristic positions may 

 be looked for the position of action, and the posi- 

 tion of repose. Both admit of sub-divisions : action, 

 for example, may comprise defence and attack. 

 The attitude of the cat stalking, and that of the cat 

 with arched back, are equally characteristic of the cat 

 in action : the "curled" attitude and the "stretched" 

 attitude, equally characteristic of repose. Action is, ot 

 course, the most difficult to deal with photographically. 

 Not only are the exposures necessarily shorter, but the 

 exact moment at which a picture will most successfully 

 convey the sense of past and future is a most difficult 

 one to determine. 



