PHOTOGRAPHING NESTS AND EGGS 37 



four to eight feet from the nest. The cheese-cloth, 

 being more or less transparent, allows the background 

 to show through to a limited extent, this modifying 

 the white of the cloth. If properly arranged this 

 background gives very pleasing results. Should the 

 nest be in a shaded place it will be found necessary 

 to bend back the branches (on no account should 

 they be cut) in order to allow the sunlight to 

 strike the nest, but do not on any account de- 

 stroy these shading leaves, as the young birds can- 

 not endure the direct rays of the sun ; you may 

 notice that in almost every case the nest is situated so 

 that it is protected from the sun during the greater 

 part of the day. In photographing the young in 

 their nest do not let the sun shine on them until 

 you have everything in readiness for making the 

 exposure. When there is not sufficient light, the 

 sun's rays reflected from a mirror will be of great 

 assistance, though the birds will be illuminated to the 

 exclusion of the surroundings. The mirror will also 

 prove most useful in photographing young oven-birds 

 and others whose nests are screened from the sunlight 

 by overhanging roots or branches. Backgrounds in 

 shadow are not desirable, as, with the shortness of 

 exposure, they show almost black in the photograph. 

 Cutting down the branch in which a nest is built is 

 not to be commended. It is sometimes" done in 

 order that the nest may be placed amid properly 



