Photo by George Shiras, 3rcl 



A DOE MOTTLED BY INTERCEPTED SUNLIGHT 



"The need of sunlight and the fact that a passing cloud or the shifting light may throw 

 the deer in heavy or broken shadows is one reason why a camera set out at night with the 

 flashlight is often preferable" (see text, page 772). 



titude and action. An example of this 

 was shown by an article in this magazii . 

 several years ago, illustrating the nightly 

 visits of the same coon to bait placed at 

 the edge of a little lake.* 



In taking a picture from a canoe by 

 flashlight one must be able to judge short 

 distances accurately in order to have the 

 animal in proper focus. In a different 

 way, but for the same reason, it is 

 equally important that automatically 

 taken pictures should come within the 

 focus for which the camera was set in 

 advance. With the bait placed at a given 

 distance, little trouble arises, but when 

 the animal sought is a deer or a moose 

 coming to the water or feeding grounds, 

 the problem becomes more difBcult, be- 

 cause the intercepting string must be 

 touched at the point where the animal 

 will be in sharp focus. 



* See "A Flashlight Story of an Albino 

 Porcupine and of a Cunning but Unfortunate 

 Coon," Nationai, Geographic Magazine, June, 

 1911. 



Whenever animals are traveling on a 

 well-defined runway, a string running to 

 a stake on the opposite side will insure a 

 good picture, because the camera can be 

 previously focused on the runway; but 

 if such animals are to be photographed 

 when wandering along the shores of a 

 pond or traveling in a creek bottom, it 

 is important that natural conditions be 

 taken advantage of, so that the animal 

 will be forced to pass at a fixed distance 

 from the camera, as will be the case 

 where the shore is narrowed by drift- 

 wood, rocks, or mud-holes. 



Quite often temporarily erected ob- 

 structions will accomplish the same pur- 

 pose, provided no scent is left and the 

 material used is in harmony with the 

 surroundings. Otherwise, in order to 

 avoid having the camera sprung at a 

 point where it is not in focus, the string 

 can be run along the ground and then 

 raised a foot or two high by forked sticks 

 at the spot where the animal is most 

 likely to pass. 



766 



