io8 



Bird -Lore 



the ground glass of the miniature camera. This enables the operator 

 to focus up to the last instant, and to select the best attitude of his 

 "sitter." 



We have a silent time-shutter built in behind the lens, and for 



very rapid work, such as flying bird studies, use a Thornton & Pickard 



focal plane shutter working up to the thousandth part of a second. 



Good apparatus, that will work under almost any conditions with 



precision and certainty, must be possessed for the achievement of 



successful natural history work. We use 

 the quickest plates made in the old country 

 for the greater part of our work, although, 

 of course, for still objects full of color, we 

 cannot beat Ilford chromatic plates. 



We soon -discovered that it was abso- 

 lutely impossible to figure many timid birds 

 at close quarters without some natural con- 

 trivance in which the camera and its ope- 

 rator could be effectually hidden. For the 

 study of wood birds at home, we built an 

 artificial tree trunk of sufficient internal 

 capacity to contain either of two broad- 

 shouldered Yorkshiremen. This is how we 

 made it. Purchasing three pieces of stout 

 bamboo, each 7 feet in length, I split them 

 down the center and lashed each piece to 

 three children's bowling hoops, the topmost 

 and center ones being 24 inches in diame- 

 ter, and the bottom one 27, so as to repre- 

 sent the base of a tree and give the legs 

 of our camera a greater stride. We then 

 covered the whole with galvanized wire and 

 a coat of green American cloth, which my 

 wife painted to resemble the bark of a tree. 

 After this we stuck bits of lichen and moss 

 on to it, and then passed a number of bits 

 of strong grey thread from the inside to the out. With these we tied 

 on several pieces of ivy stripped from adjoining tree trunks, so as to 

 make our contrivance look as natural as possible. How far we suc- 

 ceeded in deceiving the feathered folks of Britain may be judged, 

 when I state that one day a Chaffinch alighted on the broken top 

 of our artificial forest monster and began to rattle off its song just 

 over the unseen photographer's head. 



We should much like to hear of this device being tried by some- 



IN THE TREE-TOPS 



From Kearton's ' Wild I,ife at Home: 

 copyrighted by Cassell & Co., Ltd. 



