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630 The American Naturalist. [July, 
figures of owls wherein I have accomplished it. Where no back- 
ground is demanded, such birds can be photographed in one’s 
study, with a white sheet behind them, and against this cone- 
bearing pine boughs, old stumps, and the like, come out beauti- 
fully, and elegant figures of many kinds’can be reproduced from 
the negative thus secured. A pneumatic snap-shutter is almost 
an indispensable adjunct to your camera in the proper photog- 
raphy of birds, as some of them have to be partially hypnotized 
before placed in position to be taken. Then, as they recover 
from the effect of this, they dress their plumage, assume a 
natural posture, and then appear animated. You. now watch 
your opportunity, and secure an instantaneous picture of your 
feathered subject. In the forest you can often get most valuable 
negatives of nests and similar objects, all of which are highly 
prized by the scientific naturalist, and can be used in his work: 
Large lizards, such as our “Gila Monster” of Arizona, I have 
obtained by firmly strapping my camera in such a manner as to 
have the line of the focal axis perpendicular to the floor, upon 
which I have placed a sheet of white blotting paper, and then 
allowed the reptile to walk over it, and as he came beneath the 
lens, I secured a first-class negative of him, In the case of 
mammals, I have obtained photographs of dead ones, placed in 
natural postures, so faithfully done that they deceived the eyes of © 
the best experts afterwards. My badger, published in Forest 
and Stream several years ago, was taken in that way, and very 
numerous other subjects, both since and before it. 
The field and line of work I have briefly indicated above, is 
brimful of interest for the enthusiastic young naturalist, and one 
wherein he will soon find that all his ingenuity will be most amply 
demanded. As every faithful young biologist should keep his. 
“journal” of observations made afield, and in the forest, or afloat, 
he will very soon find that his camera will aid him immensely in 
affording the means of furnishing permanent pictures wherewith 
to illustrate his remarks, and these in addition to the ones used 
from which his photo-electrotypes have been selected for printing. © 


