Photographing Nests and Young Birds 
the tripod. A hole may be made (C) so that the regular tripod 
screw can be used when taking photographs of other objects. 
Occasionally it is desirable to take a photograph of the old 
bird on the nest, but this is by no means easy. The camera 
should be arranged and focussed on the nest while the parent bird 
is away, taking care to remove the leaves or twigs that would be 
out of focus in the immediate foreground. The instrument must 
be concealed to some extent by leaves and twigs, and the operator 
will have to take pains to see that nothing interferes with the 
working of the shutter. A long tube must be substituted for the 
‘short one, and either a large bulb or, if convenient, a bicycle 
hand-pump will answer the purpose admirably. In this way I 
have made time exposures with the camera fastened to the higher 
branches of a tree, where the shade made it necessary to give a 
five-second exposure and | found that the branch shook if I stood 
on it. Once a tube nearly forty feet long was used, and with the 
aid of the bicycle pump | got an excellent picture. 
A very useful accessory to the bird-nest photographer’s out- 
fit is a pair of pruning clippers for removing small twigs and 
leaves. 
The surroundings of the nest should not be disturbed more 
than one can help, since this gives an artificial appearance to the 
picture and is apt to frighten away the owners. 
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