22 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMf]RA 



string. When the exposure is to be made from a 

 distance as much as one hundred feet of tubing may 

 be employed. With any length of over twenty-five 

 feet an extra large bulb is required. The ordinary 

 tubing sold by photographers will not be found so 

 well adapted to long-distance work as a less elastic 

 kind, which does not so readily yield to pressure and 

 transmits a larger portion of the force applied when 

 squeezing the bulb. 



The Tripod. — A stout two-length tripod is to be 

 preferred to one of the slender multifolding type, in 

 which stability is sacrificed to weight and size. The 

 legs, except the inner sides of the upper section into 

 which the lower section slides, and brass work should 

 be painted bark color in order to make them as in- 

 conspicuous as possible. For use in the water a 

 metal tripod will prove more serviceable than one 

 of wood. 



A very useful substitute for a tripod is the 

 "Graphic" ball-and-socket clamp designed more 

 especially for bicycle camerists. With it a camera 

 can easily be attached to the limb of a tree, rung of 

 a ladder, or, by screwing a block on to the head of 

 the tripod, it may be employed in connection with 

 the tripod — in fact its applicability will be evident 

 to every one using it. 



Plates. — Among the many excellent brands of 

 plates now offered to photographers there is really 

 very little difference. However, it is advisable to 

 select the one you think the most rapid and use it 

 to the exclusion of all others. Under certain cir- 

 cumstances — in photographing Robins, for instance 

 — isochromatic plates will be found desirable, and 



