A Bird Photographer's Outfit 107 



There should be a plentiful supply of plate-holders, as many as can be car- 

 ried. I carry twenty-six double holders, so that I can expose fifty-two plates 

 without reloading; I have seldom had occasion to expose as many plates as this 

 in one day, though it is easy to do so in any of the great breeding colonies, such 

 as Bird Rock, Pelican Island, or the Florida rookeries, where a hundred plates 

 would be none too many, and where birds are flying by in a steady stream or 

 constantly offering tempting opportunities. It would be well to have all the 

 plate-holders interchangeable among the three cameras, for obvious reasons, 

 and, as the Premo plate-holders will also fit the Reflex cameras, the cameras 

 might be selected with this end in view. 



The choice of plates deserves some consideration, though any good brand 

 of rapid plate will do. The isochromatic or orthochromatic brands are prefer- 

 able, as they give true color values and bring out the fine markings in the bird's 

 plumage. I have adopted, and can strongly recommend, the Kodoid plates, 

 made by the Eastman Company. They possess four very decided advantages 

 not combined in any glass plate: (i) They are light and easy to carry in a trunk 

 or in the field. (2) They are practically unbreakable, thus saving many hours 

 of trouble and worry. (3) They are orthochromatic, even without a color screen. 

 (4) They are non-halation, a useful quality not usually possessed by fast plates. 

 They are said to be slower than the rapid glass plates, but I have found them 

 fully equal to the fastest work. 



The latest addition to my camera outfit, and a very important one, is a camera 

 trunk. It is a stout box, about the size and shape of a steamer trunk, made of 

 pine, reinforced with strips of ash, and bound at the corners with steel. Inter- 

 nally, it has six padded compartments, one for each of the three cameras, des- 

 cribed above, one for plate holders, and two for plates and small paraphernalia. 

 Everything in it fits accurately into its proper place, and everything is ready for 

 instant use. Its advantages are obvious, and it is certainly a great improvement 

 over the ordinary trunk, where apparatus cannot be properly packed, and where 

 everything is in chaos before the end of a three-weeks' cruise. The value of this 

 trunk was strongly emphasized on our trip to Bird Rock in an open boat. While 

 landing in the surf, the sea broke over the stern, fiUing the boat half-full of water 

 and hopelessly drenching our luggage; my companions' apparatus barely escaped 

 utter ruin, and many of his plate-holders were rendered useless, while not a drop 

 of water reached the contents of my trunk. 



So much for the outfit; the rest depends upon the photographer, and, if he 

 would succeed, he must be well supplied with unlimited patience and perse- 

 verance. He must have plenty of energy, and be endowed with a good constitu- 

 tion to withstand hardship and exposure, for photographing birds in their native 

 wilderness is not child's play. And, above all, he must be well suppHed with 

 plates, and use them freely. One seldom regrets having made an exposure, but 

 often wishes he had taken just a few more. The cost of a few plates is not to be 

 compared with the value of the golden opportunity, which may never occur again. 



