58 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



going into the ice-cold water with the camera, and 

 a more miserable half-hour I have seldom spent, 

 for apart from the cold, and the water was well 

 above my knees, the air was filled with thousands 

 of detestable black flies and " no-see-ems, " whose 

 poisonous stinging bite nearly drives a man crazy. 

 It was no fun, but really hard work, and I could 

 not help thinking that sitting in a comfortable 

 studio making drawings was far easier than making 

 photographic illustrations of wild animals. 



One of the subjects was a porcupine sitting 

 among the topmost branches of a hemlock tree. 

 How I blessed the author of the story for choosing 

 such a tree with its bending branches. We cut 

 down a vigorous-looking tree, took off the top and 

 stuck it firmly in the ground. The next question 

 was, how could we induce the porky to climb it ? 

 Apparently there was no question about it so far 

 as the animal was concerned, he simply refused 

 point blank, and nothing that we could do had the 

 slightest effect on his determination. With any 

 other small creature it would have been an easy 

 matter to place him exactly where we wished, but 

 unfortunately one cannot handle these prickly 

 customers. Finally we tied the perverse beast 

 to a stout pole, hoisted him up, and when he 

 grasped the branch we cut the cord, whereupon he 

 promptly fell to the ground, and we had to repeat 

 this operation several times before he at last decided 

 to hold on and the picture was quickly made. 



Another illustration required a dug-out canoe. 

 The man said he knew where there used to be an 

 old one, which we might be able to find in a certain 



