48 PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BIRD-LOVERS. 



Little baby-chicks, clad only in a shining skin 

 and a hazy suspicion of long hair-like down, are 

 difficult to render satisfactorily ; they are best 

 taken from a little distance, or the idea of the long 

 transparent down is lost. 



They are not pretty or attractive, and one rarely 

 sees photographs of them, but what they lack in 

 beauty is outweighed by the interest attaching 

 to them. Very little of the early lives of birds has 

 been recorded photographically or otherwise, and 

 this branch of work is the more to be encouraged 

 since this chapter in a bird's life is so very brief 

 and transient that few are familiar with it in all 

 its diverse forms. A man may have gained ac- 

 quaintance and familiarity with a certain bird at 

 odd times and places during many years, but if he 

 has not happened to come across it during a brief 

 week or two in spring, he knows nothing of its 

 nestling days. 



But we wish not only to represent the chicks 

 themselves as creatures in our pictures, but also 

 to give some information about their habits. It 

 might be thought that a really good study of the 

 one would necessarily include the other, but it is 

 not always possible to accomplish these two objects 

 in the same picture. The young of most ground- 

 building birds instinctively run away on the 

 approach of danger and crouch in hiding. 



