BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY 7 



attending to their various domestic duties. The 

 first thing to do after the introduction, i.e., learning 

 their name, is to obtain their confidence, and, with 

 birds as with people, there must be confidence if 

 we wish friendship. How easily one may gain 

 this confidence depends quite as much upon the 

 individuahty of the bird as upon the species. The 

 fear of man is inherent in all birds, but by judicious 

 management this fear can to some extent be 

 allayed. 



Winning the Confidence of Wa,D Birds 



A great many instances have come before my 

 notice of the change in a bird's behaviour from 

 extreme fear and distrust to a degree of confidence, 

 which, to the inexperienced, seems almost incon- 

 ceivable. The power to tame birds or animals is 

 thought to belong peculiarly to certain persons. 

 This may or may not be true, but from my own 

 observations I am inchned to believe that tameness 

 is a quahty rather of the natural disposition of the 

 individual, bird, or animal. 



With some birds I have spent days in trying to 

 convince them that I intended no harm, yet they 

 placed not the slightest confidence in me, and 

 would not even feed their young if I were in 

 sight. Others of the same species became accus- 

 tomed to my presence after less than an hour, 

 showing their confidence by coming to their young 

 while I stood in plain sight, within a few feet of 

 the nest. It is in the difficulty of familiarising 

 the bird with ourselves and the camera that we 



