460 
many years back. My first success was a 
photo of 3 fuzzy, funny little ground spar- 
rows that had their home under a shelter- 
ing bank. As I was focusing, one, more 
restless than its fellows, fluttered out, and 
had gone some distance before I caught 
him and brought him back. I remember 
yet my thrill of pleasure when I developed 
the plate and saw the image grow. 
All is not so easy, however, for I have 
been 2 years attempting to get a good photo 
of a pewee’s nest under a certain bridge. 
A picture of a wood pewee’s nest, secured 
after days of hard work, is one of my 
prized possessions. The nest was built on 
the branch of an oak fully 60 feet above the 
ground. The only way to get it was to 
crawl out on a limb higher up. After sev- 
eral failures, I one day strapped my cam- 
era to my back, climbed the tree and 
crawled out on the limb to within 20 feet 
of the nest. The creaking and swaying of 
the limb forbade further progress, and I 
was compelled to take the nest at that dis- 
tance. Holding to the branch with arms 
and legs, I focused as best I could and 
snapped. The picture, though small, proved 
excellent. 
The most peculiar nest, of which I have 
a picture, a pyramid of sticks with 2 blue 
eggs a-top, was built by an ambitious black 
billed cuckoo in an old lard can chance- 
thrown into a thicket. 
I have, too, a photo of a cowbird’s nest 
that caused some mystification until it 
turned out to be a thrush’s home. 
The swinging cradle of the red eyed 
vireo, the more stable one of his yellow 
throated cousin, the tiny nest of a hum- 
ming bird with its tiny eggs, the high-set 
homes of hawks and crows, and many 
more have place in my collection, and it is 
a pleasure to look them over and recall 
the history of their getting. 
Come, my friends! put away your col- 
lecting boxes, drills, and blow pipes, and 
like true sportsmen preserve the birds. 
Give this new sport a fair trial. Don’t give 
up after the first failure, stick at it. Think 
of the trees you have shinned after crow’s 
eggs, only to find the nest was last year’s! 
Stick to it! and you will find health and 
pleasure in this novel pastime; the birds 
will enjoy their share of life, and we shall 
not have to regret another extinct species. 
I feel sure that, should sufficient interest 
be aroused, the editor of RECREATION would 
have a class for these photographs in his 
next contest, and award a prize to the most 
worthy. 
I use a Premo 5x7 camera, made by the 
Rochester Optical and Camera Co., and 
fitted with a Victor rectilinear lens. I gen- 
erally use a 128 stop with an exposure of 
40 to 60 seconds; this, of course, depends 
RECREATION. 
on circumstances. Develop with hydro, and 
print on Velox paper. 
QO. L. Griffith, Rosemont, Pa. 

SOUVENIR POST CARDS. 
The ease with which these cards arc 
made leads me to wonder why the amateur 
photographer does not get busy. The card 
may be bought already sensitized. All that 
is necessary may be found in the possession 
of every amateur. The most important 
item is the negative. It should be rich in 
detail and have some contrast. A piece of 
black paper, 4x6 inches, with an opening 
cut the size one wishes the photograph to 
appear on the card, is the only need. Cut 
the opening 23¢ x 33¢; then place a regular 
size post card on the paper, marking with 
a heavy line the position the sensitized card 
is to occupy. This will leave a narrow 
white margin on 3 sides of the photo and 
15g inches to write on. Instead of the se- 
vere corners, I cut a lantern slide mat in 
4 and paste them on the mat, making round © 
corners. These cards are greatly appre- 
ciated by the persons who receive them. A 
bit of landscape or a spot where once we 
took our lunch makes a valued souvenir. I 
use Rotox cards and find them perfect. 
C., Bethlehem, Pa. 

I have been having very thin negatives, 
though this does not seem to be caused by 
under development or exposure. Some of 
my negatives are so thin that the sky in the 
negative prints gray. There is plenty of 
detail, but it has a faded brown appearance. 
If I hold my hand back of the sky part of 
the negative, I can easily see my hand right 
through the sky. It is mysterious to me, 
and I hope you can solve it for me. 
Frank Rose, East Boston, Mass. 
ANSWER. 
I am inclined to believe that the cause is 
over exposure. I suggest making at least 3 
different exposures, and developing each 
one separately just as you have been doing. 
An over exposed plate is thin, flat, lacking 
contrast, full of detail, but producing a gray 
print. An under exposed plate has a lack 
of detail, and if not developed too far pro- 
duces a gray print. If development is car- 
ried far, the print will show great contrast, 
but ot much detail—EnprrTor. 

Please give us all you can on photog- 
raphy. I get more practical hints from 
RECREATION than from a magazine to which 
I subscribed that is devoted entirely to that 
subject. 
W. H. Cummings, N. Y. City. 

