170 WILD LIFE A 7 HOME. 



a Yorkshire beck for days together in exactly the 

 same situation. 



Although, perhaps, not quite appropriate, I think 

 it will be best to deal with the common lizard in 

 this the concluding chapter, as the reptile is sure 

 to be met with by the natural history photographer 

 during his wanderings. He is a difficult little chap 

 to make a picture of, however, and an assistant will 

 generally have to be requisitioned before he can be 

 persuaded to " sit " long enough in one attitude. 

 We have lots of lizards on the Surrey hills, and 

 although some of the natural history books say 

 that the reptile is partial to winged insects as food, 

 our observations go to prove that it is fonder of 

 small earthworms. 



We have tried several times to photograph a 

 whale when the animal came to the surface of the 

 sea to breathe, but, unfortunately, have never suc- 

 ceeded in securing a picture. My first acquaintance 

 with the leviathan was made whilst lying on my 

 back in a smack's boat one dark night beyond the 

 Dogger Bank. I was unable to sleep on account 

 of the rolling and pitching of the craft, and the fact 

 that I was nearly frozen, having nothing to cover 

 me in the way of bed-clothes except an old sail, 

 when I became suddenly aware of strange unearthly 

 sounds in the sea around me. I listened for a long 

 while to a loud wheezing, sighing kind of breath- 

 ing, without being in the least able to conjecture 

 whence it proceeded, when I put my head out and 



