CHAPTER I 



PART I 

 BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY 



WHILE book-illustrating has changed continually 

 since printing was first discovered, perhaps the 

 greatest improvement has been made in pictures of 

 birds and animals, and it is largely to the camera 

 that we owe this great improvement. Until quite 

 recently only drawings were used for illustrations, 

 and with subjects such as birds " the personal 

 equation " played so prominent a part that one felt 

 a certain sense of doubt as to the accuracy even of 

 fairly good drawings. 



For my own part I had never been satisfied with 

 drawings of birds ; and therefore, giving up the 

 pencil, I followed in the footsteps of those who 

 were experimenting with bird photography. All 

 my earlier attempts were with mounted specimens, 

 at first without any accessories. But the photo- 

 graphs seemed hard and unlifelike. Then I tried 

 placing the mounted bird in natural surroundings, 

 either out of doors or beneath a skylight. The 

 pictures were fairly satisfactory, but still there was 

 no disguising the fact that the bird was mounted. 

 The eyes, and usually the legs, told the story. 

 The pictures were unsympathetic ; it was as though 



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