ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHY 81 



It is harder to stalk with a big camera than a 

 rifle, for while one can sometimes allow a rifle butt 

 to trail behind along the ground when crawling 

 on hand and knee, this cannot be done with a 

 frail machine like a camera. My quarter-plate 

 " Reflex " had a length of only 9 inches when 

 closed, but when open with extended bellows 

 and big lens mounted, was nearly 3 feet long. 

 To open up the camera and adjust the lenses 

 was the work of five or more minutes, and once 

 the game was alarmed and moving, as in this 

 case, the stalking had to be done with open camera 

 so as to be always ready for a picture. It was 

 only after two hours' crawling, through sharp 

 stubble and thorns in a torrid heat, and hiding 

 behind every bit of cover, that I managed to take 

 some twenty photographs of the herd. The bull 

 had horns of about 57 inches, a better head than 

 three of those already shot ; but I was content 

 with his picture, a far better momento to a hunter 

 of moderate means, than a trophy which took two 

 men to carry for weeks on the journey, and cost 

 a fortune to bring to England and mount. 



Photography solves one of the difficulties of 

 the poor big-game hunter, who, with no suitable 

 house of his own, is compelled to store his trophies 

 at great expense or hang them in clubs or museums 

 where he rarely sees them. 



The very difficulty of the telephotography of 

 animals makes it splendid sport, ai -1 a successful 

 photograph provides a delightful and very portable 

 record of the day's hunting. 



The great heat and exhaustion c:\ ;;'.'! iciieed 

 6 



