PHOTOGRAPHIC OUTFIT 13 



place the 'door' toward the wind to insure better ventilation. When 

 the situation is exposed, an additional stay or two may be required. 

 If the camera box is not strong enough to sit on, a collapsible, artist's 

 camp-stool should be added to the outfit. One cannot spend half a 

 day in such close quarters and observe and record to advantage unless 

 one is comfortably seated." 



Photographic Outfit. The camera has unquestionably won its 

 place as the most important item in the field student's outfit; not merely 

 because it enables one to record facts in a graphic, communicable form, 

 but also because it supplies an incentive for definitely directed study, 

 by satisfying the hunting instinct and gratifying the desire for some 

 tangible return for effort expended. Photographs can be made not 

 alone of birds, their nests and eggs, but of haunts and of vegetation, 

 showing its condition at certain dates as it develops in the spring or 

 dies in the autumn. 



The naturalist photographer should seek the advice and instruc- 

 tion of some one with experience; or, when this is not possible, the 

 books on the subject should be consulted. Much may be done in the 

 study of nest-life with a camera and lens costing between thirty and 

 forty dollars. Select a strong, not too light, 4x5 camera, having a 

 bellows-length of not less than 16 inches and fitted with a trade shutter; 

 and a lens of about 7-inch focus, convertible in type, in order that 

 either the front or rear half of the lens can be used alone, giving an 

 image about double the size of that produced by both combined. 



Such a camera should be used from a tripod, and under favorable 

 conditions of light and time it will do excellent work. It cannot be 

 employed to photograph flying birds or to do many other things which 

 require the most rapid lenses and special apparatus; but, from a blind, 

 with the nest, food, or decoys to act as a lure, bringing birds within 

 range, one may secure an endless number of valuable and interesting 

 photographic records of bird-life. 



By using one of the modern, very rapid multi-speed, lens-shutters 

 and guessing at the focus, such a camera may be used in photographing 

 birds in flight; but the best results are attained in this somewhat diffi- 

 cult field with a reflecting camera of the 'Graflex' type, equipped with 

 a focal-plane shutter. Satisfactory flight photographs, at close range, 

 require an exposure of not more than -&^o part of a second. This 

 necessitates the use of a high-class, rapid lens and the outfit becomes 

 too costly to be within the reach of many. However, except under 

 the conditions which sometimes prevail in large bird rookeries, one 

 can do far more and better work from a blind with inexpensive 

 apparatus, than with a high-priced hand-camera in the open, while 

 the notes on birds' habits obtained from the blind are incomparably 

 more valuable. 



Telephoto lenses require too great care in focusing, and too much 

 time when exposing, to be of much service in bird photography. Nor 

 jndeed is it desirable to have a lens which too greatly increases the 



