148 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



necessary, and even then only under the most 

 favourable conditions can one hope to secure 

 satisfactory results. 



Generally speaking, ducks decoy well only on 

 overcast days, and in the early morning and late 

 evening, when, of course, photographing is out of 

 the question. The brightest hght is none too 

 good for making exposures of from one to two 

 thousandths of a second, and anything slower than 

 that will not catch the rapid action of a duck in 

 flight. So it will be seen that in my form of 

 hunting I at least wanted as good a chance as the 

 other sportsmen, and after I had explained my 

 point of view I was allowed to draw a blind. 



The following morning, just as the sun was creep- 

 ing over the mist-hidden tops of the cypress trees, 

 we started. My man seemed amused at my photo- 

 graphic battery, and evidently looked on me as a 

 mild lunatic. Why I carried no gun was beyond 

 his power of comprehension, and he poled the flat- 

 bottomed canoe through the sluggish Arkansas 

 stream in a listless way which revealed more 

 eloquently than words his utter contempt of my 

 dea of sport. The other canoes passed us, and the 

 men in them jokingly taunted my unhappy negro. 

 Long years of experience with unenthusiastic guides 

 had hardened my feelings, and I was no longer sen- 

 sitive to anyone's ideas regarding camera huntmg. 



Eventually we arrived at our blind and put out 

 the decoys, both Uve and wooden ones, and then I 

 made ready for work by clearing a small opening 

 in the brush through which I could operate the 

 camera. This is a very important thing to do 



