10 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



second. With such a short exposure the shadows 

 are hkely to be lacking in detail, so it is advisable 

 to place beneath the birds a white cloth, and this 

 should be tilted to such an angle that the reflected 

 light shall strike those parts of the birds that are in 

 shadow. 



If the natural background is not strongly sunlit, 

 it will be an advantage to use a white or light- 

 grey cloth as an artificial background, but it 

 should be placed at a reasonable distance from the 

 birds ; from four to eight feet will answer. Now 

 place the little fellows on the perch and arrange 

 the camera, remembering — if you wish to photo- 

 graph the parent bird with her young — to leave 

 suflicient space between the young birds and the 

 edge of the plate, so that no matter on which side 

 the old one comes to feed them the camera will be 

 in readiness. All that remains to be done is to 

 attach a long rubber tube to the shutter. Then sit 

 down in an inconspicuous place and wait patiently 

 until the old birds have fully convinced themselves 

 that no harm is intended. Then they will venture 

 near the camera and feed their hungry young. 



Any one who uses the camera as a means of 

 studying bird life will undoubtedly be surprised to 

 find how marked is the individuality of birds. Not 

 by casual observation does one discover this, but in 

 the intimacy with the birds that one acquires when 

 one watches for hours at a time the bird upon 

 whose nest or young one may happen to have the 

 instrument focused. 



A camera, to be rigid and sufficiently durable 

 to stand several seasons of field work, must be 



