THE METHODS OF THE BIRD PHOTOGRAPHER = 35 
As a known and fixed point to which the bird 
may be expected to return, the nest offers the best 
opportunity to the bird photographer, and photo- 
graphs of adult birds on or at their nests are more 
common than those taken under other conditions.” * 
Birds vary greatly in their attitude toward a 
camera which has been erected near their homes; 
some species paying 
little attention to it, 
and, after a short 
time, coming and go- 
ing as though it had 
always been there, 
while others are sus- 
picious of any object 
which changes the 
appearance of their 
surroundings. 
With the latter 
special precautions 
are necessary, and 
unusual care should 
be taken in working about their nests lest they be 
made to desert it. The long-focus lens is here of 
great service, for it enables one to secure a suf- 
ficiently large image from a distance of ten or twelve 
feet. Even then it will often be necessary to con- 
ceal or disguise the camera by covering it with the 
green dark-cloth, vines, and leaves. A rubber tube 
or thread of requisite length is then attached and 
the exposure is made from a distance. 
A dummy camera, composed of a box or log 
wrapped in a green cloth and placed on a tripod 
18. Chestnut-sided Warbler on nest. 
