CHAPTER III. 

 TENT AND CAMERA : THE TOOLS OF BIRD-PHOTOGRAPHY. 



PHOTOGRAPHY has become so essential to the practice of the other arts and 

 sciences, that the student need not suffer from lack of advice, or of detailed man- 

 uals which treat every branch of the subject. 



In the notes which follow I shall confine myself mainly to the results of personal ex- 

 perience in working with the tent. 



The Observation Tent. To satisfy the student and photographer of birds, the tent 

 must not only afford a perfect means of concealment, but must be light, portable, easily 

 adjusted, and to the fastidious, a most important consideration, comfortable to work in. 



The tent which I have used for two seasons and will now describe, meets these 

 requirements fairly well. It is made of stout grass-green ' denim, and with the frame 

 weighs only six and one half pounds. It can be pitched in ten minutes almost anywhere, 

 and may be compactly rolled, and carried for miles without serious inconvenience. It. is 

 6 ft. tall, 4^ ft. long, and 3^ ft wide, dimensions which will be found suitable for a person 

 not much above the average height. One may spend any number of hours in it by day or 

 night, and with a fair degree of comfort, excepting in very hot or sultry weather, when 

 exposed to the sun on all sides. I have suspended operations but once on account 

 of the heat, but there have been occasions when to have done so might have been better. 



The tent frame is in three pieces, two upright poles or stakes with folding cross-bars, 

 and an adjustable ridge-pole. The stakes should be from six to six and a half feet long, 

 and may be easily lengthened at any time, as when the tent is to be pitched in a swamp 

 or over mud and water. They are pointed at the lower ends which are set in the 

 ground, and capped above with an arch of sheet zinc or iron to receive the ridge-pole. 

 The latter is held in place with two pins or wire nails which are pressed through a hole 

 in the zinc cap, and through the end of the ridge-pole into the upright stake. The eaves 

 of the tent consist of a double fold of cloth projecting half an inch, to each corner 

 of which is sewn a covered wire ring. When in position the tent is firmly guyed by 

 small cords fastened to each ring. The flaps are placed at one of the corners, and may be 

 pinned together when in use. The free lower border of the tent is fixed to the ground 

 by wire pins, which may be pushed through the cloth at convenient places. From four 

 to eight of these pins are needed, and each should be seven or eight inches long, and 

 have a large soldered loop at one end. 



The tent may be ventilated from above and made more comfortable on hot days by 



1 Brown or gray might answer as well. The green color serves to render the tent inconspicuous to both ani- 

 mals and men. 



29 



