VI 



THE UMBREHLA TENT 



The bird tent is indispensable to the bird investigator 

 and photographer. When once used it will not be dis- 

 carded. It is light and is quickly erected. The one I 

 prefer and use is of the umbrella variety; it weighs only 

 four pounds, complete, and can be erected in thirty 

 seconds. No blind of any kind can be made practical 

 and at the same time convenient and comfortable, for all 

 blinds prohibit free air circulation, restrict freedom of 

 movement and limit your equipment. Anyone who does 

 bird photography seriously does not expect or exact the 

 comforts of a wind-swept front porch. (Fig. 4.) 



This tent is easily made, is inexpensive and meets 

 all the requirements necessary for thorough work. It 

 consists of three very thin pieces of hollow iron tubing, 

 graduated to telescope snugly. This tubing should be 

 one-half inch in diameter for the bottom joint, and in 

 the end of this piece a solid bolt, sharpened at its end, 

 should be screwed so that it may be pushed into the 

 ground easily, while in use. Each joint should be from 

 two to three feet in length. Little clips can be arranged 

 to grip the segments to govern the height, and the depth 

 it is pushed into the ground will also determine the height 

 of the tent. Let the top segment be the exact inside 

 measurement of the iron rod to an ordinary full-sized 

 umbrella handle. Now make a sack of some firm muslin, 

 about seven feet long, the diameter of which exactly fits 

 the size of the umbrella when stretched. The top of this 

 sack is more easily made separately, as it must fit the 

 raised umbrella snugly. One side of the sack is left open 

 up to the end of the umbrella ribs when stretched. About 

 one foot from the bottom of the sack, make a tuck around 

 it just large enough to take a one-quarter inch rope, 

 and at four equal distant points tie to this girdling rope, 

 pieces of rope two feet long, to be used in holding the 

 edge of the tent close to the ground and to keep it from 



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