NEST-PHOTOGRAPHY. 43 



may be obtained even in the most sloppy mud, 

 by tying crosswise to the end of each leg two 

 pieces of wood a foot or more long. When 

 this rather awkward-looking arrangement is 

 lowered over the boat-side, it at once finds re- 

 sistance in the mud, but, of course, if the actual 

 water is deep no such device can be of any 

 service, and the long bamboo poles may again 

 be used. 



Time-exposures from the boat itself are not 

 often satisfactory, and are only possible in the 

 calmest weather. If the day be really still, and the 

 occupants of the boat remain equally so, then there 

 is every reason to expect success, provided there is 

 no current in the water, but so delicately is a small 

 boat poised in water that the slightest movement, 

 as the mere act of leaning over to release the 

 shutter, is more than sufficient to cause motion 

 and to blur the picture. 



Getting the Camera Across to an Islet. 



Many of the water-loving birds build on an 

 island in a lake. Once there the task of photo- 

 graphing the nest is simple enough, but in the 

 absence of a boat the difficulty is to get the camera 

 over. To swim across, holding a heavy ^-plate 

 camera safely above the surface, demands more 

 strength and proficiency in aquatics than the 

 majority possess. A better plan is to press a 



