hegner] 



BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY 



135 



tain a view of the adult wild birds at their nest. Fortunately 

 birds are very solicitous of their eggs and young and will often 

 place themselves in danger in order to be near them. Among 

 the first things the observer learns is that some species of birds 

 are less afraid of a camera than others, and that individuals be- 

 longing to a single species differ widely in this respect. The 

 nest and eggs or young should be used as the attraction by means 

 of which the parents can be drawn within the range of the 

 camera, and a comparatively fearless bird, such as a House Wren 

 or a Bluebird, should be selected for the first experiments. 



Given a camera placed three to five feet away from a bird's 

 nest and focused upon it. the problem is to take a snapshot from 

 a distance so that the op>erator will not frighten the parents so 

 much as to prevent their return. This difficulty may be met in a 

 number of ways the easiest of which is to attach a string to the 

 shutter-release so that a pull will take a snapshot ; then lie in wait 

 at the end of the string at a distance of several hundred feet until 

 the birds become so anxious about the safety of their eggs and 

 young that they will brave the dangers of the camera's presence 

 and pay the nest a visit. The length of time necessary to wait 

 may be only half an hour, or several days. Another method is 

 to connect the shutter with a very long rubber tube through which 

 air may be forced by a large rubber bulb, or better, by a bicycle 

 pump. 



