The Woodcock 245 



took him so long to find this one. He finally decided 

 that it was owing to the position of the bird on the 

 nest: when he had seen her before she was facing 

 the north, now she was facing the south. We were 

 standing within twenty-five feet of the bird, but 

 I had not yet seen her, and even with the help of my 

 friend it took me fully a minute to locate her. After 

 she was once separated from her immediate sur- 

 roundings, however, it was easy to see her, for, the 

 nest being so shallow, the full body of the bird was 

 in view. 



The next thing to be considered was the photograph- 

 ing of the bird, and that, too, with a tripod camera. 

 How near the camera could be placed without 

 frightening her away was problematic. My friend 

 suggested that I probably could not approach nearer 

 than eighteen or twenty feet. Accordingly the camera 

 was set up at about this distance and two exposures 

 made. I then walked nearer the bird and remained 

 for half an hour, chatting meanwhile with my friend, 

 who was about thirty feet away. As the bird did not 

 stir, I believed that I could photograph her at closer 

 range than before, so I set the camera in position and 

 made two exposures. 



My friend could scarcely believe what he saw; 

 never before had he seen a woodcock so closely ap- 



