INTRODUCTION 3 



from Funk Island, taken during the period of its 

 existence there ! 



Of what surpassing interest would be i)lioto- 

 graphs of the former flights of Wild Pigeons, which 

 the younger generations of to-day can with diffi- 

 culty believe occurred ! 



The Charm, of Bird Photography. — As a one- 

 time sportsman, who yielded to none in his enjoy- 

 ment of the chase, I can affirm that there is a fasci- 

 nation about the hunting of wild animals with a 

 camera as far ahead of the pleasure to be derived 

 from their pursuit with shotgun or rifle as the sport 

 found in shooting Quail is beyond that of breaking 

 clay "Pigeons." Continuing the comparison, from a 

 sportsman's standi)oint, hunting with a camera is 

 the highest development of mans inherent love of 

 the chase. 



The killing of a bird with a gun seems little 

 short of murder after one has attempted to cap- 

 ture its image with a lens. The demands on the 

 skill and patience of the bird photographer are end- 

 less, and his pleasure is intensified in proportion 

 to the nature of the difficulties to be overcome, and 

 in the event of siiccess it is perpetuated by the infi- 

 nitely more satisfactory results obtained. He does 

 not rejoice over a bag of mutilated flesh and feath- 

 ers, but in the possession of a trophy— an eloquent 

 token of his prowess as a hunter, a talisman which 

 holds the power of revivifying the circumstances 

 attending its acquisition. 



What mental vision of falling birds can be as 

 potent as the actual picture of living birds in their 

 homes ? And how immeasurably one's memories are 



