viii PREFACE. 



at a stretch, tramped many weary miles in the 

 dark, spent nights in the open air on lonely 

 islands and solitary moors, endured the pangs of 

 hunger and thirst and the torturing stings of 

 insects, waited for days and days together for a 

 single picture, and been nearly drowned, both 

 figuratively and literally; yet such is the fascina- 

 tion of our subject that we have endured ' all 

 these and other inconveniences with the utmost 

 cheerfulness. 



One great disappointment to us is that our 

 labours cannot possibly be measured by our results. 

 As an instance of this, my brother journeyed to 

 the Highlands of Scotland on one occasion expressly 

 for a photograph of a Golden Eagle sitting on her 

 eyrie ; but in vain : he was obliged to return 

 without it. 



The best pictures seem to have a fatal knack 

 of slipping from the grasp of the natural history 

 photographer, and the elements, alas ! too often 

 conspire to rob him of many a cherished hope. 



What we have succeeded in bringing together 

 within the covers of this book represents practically 

 two or three limited summer holidays and such spaie 

 moments as the earning of our daily bread in the 

 turmoil of London would permit. During the spring 

 time we often turn out by three or four o'clock in 

 the morning for a ramble by field and hedgerow 

 before journeying to town, and the sweetness of 

 these happy tramps with camera and field-glass is 

 beyond the telling. 



