AMONG THE WATER FOWL 



were propitious, I drew in what slack there was and 

 pulled the thread taut. The Gulls showed no signs 

 of having heard the shutter, but it had sprung all 



right I found 

 when I walked 

 up. 



In the same 



,i~ manner I pro- 



ceeded with the 

 work, taking a 

 few more shots 

 from the same 

 position, then 

 focusing on a 

 single nest at 

 close range, or 

 on a couple of 

 nests, and again 

 on a rock where the Gulls frequently alighted. In 

 the latter case I got a fine exposure on two birds 

 on top of the rock. The Gulls soon became much 

 more confident, and would return to their nests as 

 soon as I retired, often standing so near the camera 

 as to brush against it. Of course the exposures had 

 to be instantaneous, and cloud areas bothered me a 

 good deal. The Cormorants proved to be too shy 

 to be photographed. When the boat returned with 

 accounts of wonderful finds on the other islands, all 

 too soon for me, I had what proved later to be a 

 very interesting series of Gull pictures, the fruits 

 of a hard day's work. If anyone thinks it easy, I 

 would like to put him on a glaring beach in a broil- 

 ing sun, without a trace of a breeze, surrounded 



152 



"THEN FOCUSING ON A SINGLE NEST AT CLOSE RANGE 

 RING-BILLED GULL ON NEST 



