JQ2 Camera Craft Notes. [,^' 



Emu 



h Jan 



cxperifiicc with the Pilot-Bird, we were rather mystilied as to what 

 it could be. It was not till we reached the camp and consulted 

 Dr. Leach's " Bird Book" that we discovered what our tind was. 

 We decided to try next day for some photographs of the adult 

 birds. Daybreak found us at the nest determined to secure 

 pictures at any cost. Having fixed one of the cameras in position, 

 we patiently waited for the parents to visit the nest. After about 

 twenty-five minutes the female appeared, and, without taking 

 any notice of the camera, which was focussed only some i8 inches 

 from the nest, fed the young and departed without giving us a 

 good position. As we received similar treatment on four or five 

 visits, occupying roughly an hour, we grew weary of waiting, 

 and decided to keep the parents around the nest by preventing 

 them from feeding the young. This method proved effective, 

 and we succeeded in securing several exposures without delay. 

 During the day we had unlimited opportunities, the birds becoming 

 so tame as even to allow themselves to be handled. We were 

 also fortunate as regards the light, but, owing probably to our 

 inexperience of photography at that time, the two photographs 

 reproduced were the total result of many exposures. — S. A. 

 Lawrence and R. T. Littlejohns. 



Stray Feathers. 



Some New Zealand Bird Notes. — I wonder if the following notes 

 are of any interest ? The Waiuku district consists mostly of 

 small dairy farms, and most of the original forest has long ago 

 disappeared. It was mostly kauri, puriri, and rimu on the low, 

 rolling hills, and kahikatea or white (butter-box) pine on the rich 

 swamp land north of the Waikato Heads. Starlings are here in 

 thousands, and where they can find an old puriri are well off for 

 nesting- places, as the puriri " pipes " just as eucalypts do. But 

 standing timber is scarce, and these birds have taken to nesting 

 within a foot or so of the groimd. You see, nearly all corner-posts 

 and gate-posts are of puriri in the round. These have, as usual, 

 " piped," decaying down the middle and leaving sufficient space 

 for a Starling to descend, and sometimes for a human arm to 

 follow and even reach the nest. Perhaps the same thing happens 

 in Australia, but I think it would be novel in England — I mean, 

 of course, for the nest to be so near, if not sometimes on, terra 

 firma. Besides Starlings we have several other acclimatized birds. 

 Blackbirds and Thrushes are common ; there are probably three 

 nests of each in my grounds of a couple of acres. Skylarks also 

 are very numerous, so you can see we get plenty of music. Gold- 

 finches, Chaffinches, and Greenfinches are in about that order 

 of frequency. (I leave a corner of the orchard waste pour les 

 encourager.) The Yellow Hammer is also a common bird — and 

 the Sparrow ! 



