Photographing Birds Nests 



149 



be sure to prop up the end of the branch so that 

 the nest will be in its original horizontal position. 

 Above all things never remove the nest from its 

 site, except when absolutely necessary, either by 

 taking it from the crotch or other situation in 

 which it was placed by the birds and placing it in 

 another more convenient, or by removing it and 

 its support bod- 

 ily to where it 

 can be more 

 easily photo- 

 graphed. To 

 do this is, I 

 know, a great 

 temptation to 

 all photogra- 

 phers, but the 

 results are never 

 as satisfactory. 

 The value of a 



nest picture, from a scientific point of view, lies 

 largely in the fact that it is an exact representation 

 of the nest in precisely the position that the bird 

 built it with all its natural surroundings intact; 

 and, no matter how careful we may be to arrange 

 it after its removal, it is not the same, and the man 

 who knows the nests and the manner of their con- 

 struction can almost always detect the difference. 

 Moreover it despoils the birds of their home, for 



Nest and Eggs of Kingbird. 

 Photographed in topmost branches of apple tree. 



