34 PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BIRD-LOVERS. 



fishing-rods. Either method, if carefully used, 

 answers admirably and makes the camera stilts 

 more portable; but these at the best, though at 

 times essential, are clumsy pieces of apparatus, 

 and not to be taken out except when a definite 

 purpose is in view. 



Small nests in the hedge-row are often so con- 

 cealed by foliage that it is necessary to disturb 

 them in order to get a view of the eggs. A picture 

 may well be taken first to show the home exactly 

 as the birds designed it, and then the branches 

 bent away to disclose it further. At times, 

 branches may have to be cut away, but the 

 staring white ends of the severed twigs must be 

 carefully concealed, either by smearing with dark 

 clay or by bending a growing leaf down over them, 

 but in this, as in all other nature work, the less that 

 is disturbed and tampered with the better. Above 

 all it must not be forgotten that before leaving, 

 all twisted branches or vegetation pushed aside 

 must be, as far as possible, replaced, and the nest 

 hidden so as not to proclaim its presence to every 

 passing boy. 



Small leaves which have highly-polished surfaces 

 are a source of much trouble and disappointment, 

 marring many negatives which but for their ill 

 effect would be choice. The light is reflected 

 etrongly by their shining, convex surfaces, and 



