118 PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BIRD-LOVERS, 

 used. The legs cannot always be completely 

 covered with the tent, and when this is the case 

 the cloth may be slit up from the bottom and the 

 legs protruded and covered with vegetation. 



It is a good plan to make a " musical-box," de- 

 signed to produce a similar sound to that made by 

 the camera when working. A small cigar-box with 

 a little Z-shaped clock-key set in one side, so as to 

 turn a bar passing through the box, can be made 

 to answer perfectly. To the revolving bar, which 

 should be square, little bits of hard wood are 

 fastened, preferably by string passed through holes 

 in both. As the bar rotates these slips of wood 

 are made to strike against pieces of wood or 

 leather, and make a whirring sound, the 

 volume and nature of which can be toned down 

 by fastening layers of cloth or wash-leather to the 

 striking surfaces until a suitable sound is produced. 

 This little contrivance is taken into the tent, the 

 cinematograph camera is put in readiness and 

 focussed on the nest, and as soon as the bird has 

 got comfortably and contentedly settled, the handle 

 of the dummy machine is slowly turned. It 

 can be moderated or stopped altogether for a while, 

 in accordance with the bird's signs of alarm, until 

 finally we are able to turn without caution : then 

 we may begin to work the real instrument and 

 commence our film. 



