Introduction xvii 



made each chapter practically a separate book, even to 

 the extent of often repeating myself, in order that any 

 one looking for a certain piece of information need 

 not be forced to look through the entire volume before 

 he can find it. Now, if he wishes to take up a single 

 branch of nature work, — the photography of birds, for 

 instance, — he has but to read the three chapters on the 

 camera, the dark room, and bird photography in order 

 to get all the information which this book can vouch- 

 safe him. 



Work in nature is, at its best, one of the most diffi- 

 cult branches of all photographic art, and knowing as 

 I do how many and various are the difficulties and 

 how enormous they seem to a beginner, it has been 

 my endeavor to set forth, as clearly as possible, all 

 the devices by which these difficulties can best be 

 surmounted. 



I can look back now and see how much valuable 

 time I lost, when I first entered this field, by having to 

 learn everything for myself, — time that could have been 

 used to so much better advantage had I but had a 

 better knowledge of my subject before I started. So 

 I am endeavoring to give that knowledge, which I have 

 gained in the number of years during which I have 

 been, more or less constantly, working with my camera 

 among the wild life, to him who is about to enter the 

 same paths, and I am trusting that, to those who really 

 need aid, this volume will be welcome and prove of 

 some material use. 



The camera, particularly in the last half-dozen years, 

 has done much toward making wild animal life real to 

 those who have never had the opportunity of seeing it 



