220 ^^^^y Fe"^hers. [isf April 



Photographing Shy Birds.— During three or four years' ex- 

 perience of bird photography one learns many things ; but the 

 fact which has caused us most surprise has been the difficulty 

 experienced in photographing some of the birds that we had 

 anticipated would be easy subjects. We found that the confiding 

 Yellow-tailed Tit- Warbler {Acanthizn chrysorrhoa) and the White- 

 fronted Bush-Chat {EpUhiamtra albifrons), when faced by a 

 camera i8 inches from their " front door," showed a degree of 

 obstinacy more than worthy of many of the most retiring birds. 

 When dealing with the Little Grass-Bird {Megalurus gramineus) 

 and the Speckled Warbler {Chthonicola sagittata), however, we 

 expected trouble— and got it. It was in December, IQ12, that 

 we first located the nest of a Grass-Bird. We waited till the young 

 had left the nest, and then had to spend half a day hidden among 

 the rushes to catch them. After five or six hours' waiting, a few 

 exposures of the parent birds were made, but by that time the 

 light was bad, and no presentable negatives were obtained. In 

 the following year we were more fortunate when a nest was 

 discovered. The parent birds persisted in approaching the young 

 ones by way of all the depressions and under all the reeds avail- 

 able. An elaborate barrier made of white handkerchiefs and the 

 like induced them to come into the open. The young, when they 

 left the nest, so closely resembled the rushes in colour, and were 

 so quick in their movements, that we were obliged to take them 

 home with us overnight ; we could not have caught them again. 

 From October, 1913, onwards we have, on several occasions, 

 set the cameras before a nest of the Speckled Warbler, but it was 

 not till October, 1914, that we were able even to make an exposure 

 on the parent birds. In that month we tried about five different 

 pairs, and were fortunate enough to find one somewhat less timid 

 than the rest. A few photographs were obtained. On account 

 of the distance at which the cameras had to be operated (about 

 40 feet of cotton being used to release the shutter), a piece of 

 stone was placed in front of the nest in the hope that a bird 

 would hop on to it and thus indicate when it was in a correct 

 position for an exposure. We soon found that the birds were 

 using the nest and our piece of stone to screen themselves from 

 the camera. It was only when the entrance to the nest had 

 been blocked up and the stone removed that a clear view was 

 obtained. The removal of the stone meant that it was largely 

 a matter of chance whether or not the photograph would be 

 " sharp." Of about 25 birds that we have photographed, two 

 only avoided prominent points when approaching the camera. 

 This made them specially difficult to deal with. In most cases 

 we are able to set our cameras in anticipation of the bird perching 

 on the highest object within a reasonable distance of the nest or 

 young. Although this point may be avoided at first, owing to 

 its being directly in front of the lens, it is almost certain that it will 

 be used as soon as the bird has gained sufficient confidence to 

 approach so near. — S. A. Lawrence and K. T. Littlejohns. 

 Melbourne, 26/2/15. 



