Familiar Studies of Wild Birds 



The different degrees of timidness in species, 

 as well as among individual birds draw on all 

 the ingenuity one may have. There are cer- 

 tain localities that offer abundant possibilities 

 in the bird field of photography. A lake with 

 a reedy marsh adjoining furnishes the most 

 excellent grounds for water birds, which are 

 found nesting in such places in surprising 

 numbers. Many of these species construct a 

 floating nest of sticks and other debris, or 

 place their nest on small clumps of earth. 

 Others build in the rushes. Various species of 

 blackbirds, rail, coot, bittern, the black tern, 

 and others of the water fowl, may be found in 

 early spring in domestic occupations within a 

 short radius. The reflex camera can be used 

 here with most success, and in catching the 

 birds on the wing they are indispensable. 



Bird pictures may also be taken successfully 

 with a telephoto lens. Where it is possible, 

 however, to get within close range, the results 



84 



