176 



The NiDiotoGisT. 



Photographing an Owh 



BV DK. K. W. SHUFELDT. 



DR. R. \V. SHUFELDT, in his recently 

 issued valual)le work, "Scientific 

 Taxidermy for Museums" (Report 

 United States National Museum), gives the 

 foUowinu- iiiteresting description of photo- 

 graphing an Owl. The accompanying copj' 

 of the illustration was kindly lent by Mr. 

 G. Browne Goode, Secretary in Charge 

 United States National Museum. 



Owls have not only given a great many 

 artists infinite trouble to correctly portray, 

 but they have likewi.se been placed upon the 

 black list of a perfect host of taxidermists. 

 Literature illumined by plates of birds goes 

 to show that many an Ornithologist who 

 could draw and paint nearly every other 

 kind of bird failed when Owls were essayed. 

 So, too, there are taxidermists who can 

 mount most all birds correctly, who fail to 

 a large extent wheji they take any of the 

 Strigcs in hand. Wilson, the American 

 Ornithologist, used to complain bitterly of 

 his inability to figure any of the.se birds 

 exactly to his liking, and even the master, 

 Audubon, shows a little weakness some- 

 times in such directions. • Now, in my first 

 attempts at the photography of birds, Owls 

 were the subjects, and one might think, in- 

 asmuch as they quietly roost and doze 

 nearly all day— that is the strictly nocturnal 

 specie.s — they would be easy subjects, but 

 this is by no means always the ca.se. A 

 number of years ago, in New Mexico, I 

 frequently tried specimens of Aiken's 

 Screech Owl (Megairops asioaikem), but the 

 results obtained were never entirely satis- 

 factory to me. I have kept many kinds of 

 American Owls alive in my lifetime, and 

 the.se Screech Owls have a habit, common to 

 .some other species during their dozing 

 hours during the day, of drawing them- 

 selves up in an erect attitude, with all the 

 feathers compre.s.sed against the body, and 

 with the plumicorns erected to their fullest 

 extent. But when we come to try to photo- 



graph one in such a desirable attitude, we 

 must, to get him anything like life size, get 

 the camera within a few inches of his Owl- 

 ship, and this almost invariably alarms him, 

 and he will flatten out his plumicorns, puff 

 himself up, and then, after a second's idiotic 

 stare, fly to some other part of the room. 

 Photographing them at a long distance 

 makes the figure of him too small. 



I was once a whole day here at Takoma 

 endeavoring to secure a photograph of one 

 of our common Screech Owls {Megascops 

 asio) in my room — and then failed. He 

 would jump up on top of my camera, emit 

 a loud, rolling, whistling note of disap- 

 proval ot the procedure, dash off and finally 

 nearly brain himself by bumping into the 

 mirror of my wardrobe. I'd hypnotize 

 him, stand him on the perch, and disappear 

 for half an hour, and on ray return he 

 woiild be standing up as straight as a 

 rocket, in just the position I wanted him, 

 but all my efforts to sneak up to the camera 

 and remove the cap and n^ake the neces- 

 sat}^ exposure failed utterly, for he would 

 re-enact the same performance I have just 

 described. Finally I tied a piece of strong 

 pack-thread to his leg and took him out of 

 doors, took him in the broiling glare of the 

 sun, and giving him a blotting-paper back- 

 ground and a pretty perch, I went at him 

 again. After numerous attempts I .secured 

 the fairly good result shown in the plate. 

 When obtained he was staring his eyes out 

 at a chicken that was making a disturb- 

 ance not far away, and with a pin-hole dia- 

 phragm in, I gave him an exposure of at 

 least ten seconds, during which time he 

 never moved. His right foot exhibited an 

 odd dislocation, and its twisted position is 

 evident in his picture. I am indebted to 

 Ma.ster Richard Lay, of Takoma, U. C, for 

 the loan of this bird, for which and for his 

 trouble in capturing it for me I desire here 

 to express my grateful acknowledgements. 

 It is my intention to experiment with the 

 photography of Owls until I succeed in 

 getting a fine .series of them in all possible 

 poses, with the hope that when duly pub- 

 lished they will prove useful to both artist 

 and taxidermist. 



