72 PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BIRD-LOVERS. 



safe to say that in almost every case where a screen 

 can be used, the best and most easily provided kind 

 is a portable tent in which to hide ; this being made 

 of cloth, it is at once completely sight-proof, and 

 within the limit of its dimensions, should be adapt- 

 able to any shape. In its simplest form, it may be 

 nothing more than a dark-coloured sheet, some 

 ten to twelve feet square. This can be fashioned 

 into a tent by throwing it over a framework of 

 poles or branches, and it will answer admirably 

 if carefully arranged on a neat and substantial 

 support. 



The labour, however, of making a more finished 

 hiding-tent is so light, and the tent when completed 

 such a manifest convenience, that no one really 

 intent upon the work should be content with the 

 make-shift of a sheet. The easiest way to set 

 about its manufacture is to procure a piece of 

 fabric say art-serge or coarse dress-linen (there 

 is a fine range of colours in the first material) 

 about twelve feet or more in length and six feet 

 wide. Some of these goods are sold up to this 

 width (72 inches) and so save a joining a con- 

 sideration to a man. Along one of the twelve- 

 foot edges make a broad slot or hem, and, having 

 in this inserted a tape, run the cloth together 

 towards the middle of the tape, and then, by 

 drawing the two ends together, one edge of the 



