64 NATURE AND THE CAMERA 



PART VII 



PHOTOGRAPHING THE ADULT BIRD, WILD AND TAME 



Outfit required. — Same as Part III, with addition of a graflex or some such 

 camera, and a telephoto lens; use the focal plane instead of lens shutter if 

 birds in flight are to be portrayed. Reflecting-cloth, pruners, and lock- 

 saw will probably not be needed. 



The most difficult and most discouraging branch of 

 photography is that which deals with the wild 

 adult bird at any other than the nesting period. 

 Seldom do we find a bird in its free state that will 

 allow us to approach to within the desired distance. 

 Unless we use a telephoto lens we must be within five 

 or six feet of any of the smaller birds, if we wish the 

 bird to be an appreciable size. At ten feet a robin 

 is a very small object when seen through a lens of 

 nine-inch focus, and yet it is not often that we have 

 the opportunity of making an exposure at even that 

 distance, while larger birds are still more difficult to 

 approach, in proportion to their size. There are 

 times, as, for example, when the ground is covered 

 with snow, when through the scarcity of food birds 

 will allow of a near approach. Photographs can then 

 be made with good results and with comparatively little 

 difficulty. The white of the snow reflects so much 

 light that very short exposures may be made, and the 

 lack of strong colouring and usually the absence of 

 dark shadows are all to the advantage of the pho- 



