BIRDS AND THE CAMERA 



157 



birds at the nest than in photographing nests and eggs, 

 for any change in the immediate environment of the nest 

 will not only make it visible to the birds' enemies but will 

 usually cause the bird to desert, unless the young are full 

 grown and nearly ready to leave. The prime requisite 

 in this kind of photography is some sort of a blind for 

 concealing or disguising the 

 camera. It can be made 

 of branches and leaves just 

 sufficient to hide the cam- 

 era and tripod, and the 

 shutter then worked from 

 a distance as in feeding sta- 

 tion photography, or it can 

 be large enough to conceal 

 the photographer at the 

 same time. This is far the 

 more satisfactory, for one's 

 object should be not only 

 to secure the picture but 

 to learn something new 

 about the bird at the same 

 time. The most satisfac- 

 tory sort of a blind is the 

 so-called "umbrella blind," 

 which consists of an um- 

 brella strapped to a pole 

 at the right height and a 

 sheet of green or brown 

 cloth hung about the 

 sides properly fastened 

 and guyed so that it will not 

 shake in the wind. This blind should be put in place 

 first at some distance from the nest and then moved 

 gradually nearer, several days often being allowed for the 

 birds to become accustomed to it. The last step is to 

 push aside the leaves in front of the nest so that, when the 

 lens is pointed through a slit in the blind, an unobstructed 

 view can be obtained. Much time will now be saved if 

 the photographer can have a companion who will go to 

 the blind with him and leave as soon as everything is 

 ready. Unless the bird sees or hears some one leave the 

 blind it will usually remain suspicious for a long time, but, 

 as they cannot count, one person leaving is as good as two 

 and the bird soon returns. After the bird has once de- 

 cided that all is well, the photographer can make consid- 

 erable noise and movement within the blind without 

 frightening it. Any number of exposures can be made 

 plate holders changed notes written all within a few 

 feet of the unconcerned birds. If there are eggs in 

 the nest, one will see how carefully they are adjusted, 

 how the feathers of the breast are lifted and parted so 

 that the eggs will come in contact with the "brood spots" ; 

 he will see the parent bird preen its feathers arrange 

 the nest materials or perhaps pull down leaves to better 

 conceal itself. Occasionally the mate will come bringing 

 food, or they will exchange places, often with a delightful 

 little ceremony. If there are young, the old birds can be 

 watched bringing food, cleaning the nest and so forth. 

 One will be close enough to identify most of the food 



THE UMBRELLA BLIND 



A good method of studying and photographing birds is by means of the "um- 

 brella blind," which is here seen set up in a daisy field near the nest of a 

 bobolink. 



brought to the young and observations can be made on 

 the economic value of the birds. Best of all, everything 

 can be accurately recorded by the camera and one's ob- 

 servations communicated to others far more graphically 

 than by pen or by word of mouth. 



The possibilities for the use of the camera and the 



blind are almost unlimited. 

 Every bird presents a 

 different reaction, a new 

 problem to be solved, and 

 while the general principles 

 which have been laid down 

 will hold for all birds, 

 scarcely two birds will re- 

 spond in the same way, so 

 that one's ingenuity will be 

 continually taxed to the 

 utmost. Some species are 

 extremely stupid, others 

 extremely intelligent; some 

 are very wary, others very 

 tame; some are most easily 

 studied when incubating, 

 others when brooding; and 

 still others only after the 

 young have left the nest. 

 Even within a species no 

 two birds are just alike 

 and one may find dozens 

 of nests where the birds 

 never get tame enough to 

 photograph and suddenly 

 stumble onto one where the bird behaves like a domestic 

 fowl. In no way is the individuality of the bird better 

 brought out than by an attempt to photograph it and gain 

 an insight into its intimate life. 



But enough has been said to point out the initial steps 

 which the naturalist photographer must take and although 

 the road is beset with difficulties, it is so paved with fas- 

 cination that, once upon it, it is difficult to leave until the 

 height is reached and one looks back upon his efforts, his 

 failures, and his achievements with the knowledge that 

 what he has done is permanent and that the world is richer 

 for it. What would we not give, to-day, for a photographic 

 record of the hordes of passenger pigeons that once flocked 

 across this country, for a picture of one of the herds of 

 bisons that roamed the plains, for a glimpse of the home 

 life of the Labrador duck, or the Carolina parroquet or 

 any of our vanishing wild life that may soon be gone be- 

 yond recall! True, we have passenger pigeons in our 

 museums and bisons in our parks, and pages by the score 

 descriptive of their former abundance, and we have 

 artists like Fuertes and Lodge and Th&rburne and 

 Brook who can almost make the birds live. True, 

 likewise, the photograph has its limitations, but if 

 we wish to hand down to posterity an exact rep- 

 resentation of our wild birds to-day and a few square 

 feet of their environment, no better means has yet 

 been devised than that of the maltreated and much- 

 maligned camera. 



