l62 



RECREATION. 



CRUELTY CONDEMNZD 

 Before the close of your photo competi- 

 tion, I wish to make a few suggestions to 

 you, with which I think you, as - a bird 

 protector, will agree. During the past 

 year a book on "The Home Life of Wild 

 Birds" has been published. The illustra- 

 tions are all made from life, by what the 

 author terms a "new method." He cuts 

 down the branch containing the nest and 

 removes it to an open space in the full 

 glare of the sun. He seats himself, with 

 his camera, in a tent beside the nest and 

 awaits the return of the parent bird. The 

 author states that in several instances the 

 entire nest full of young birds died from 

 the effect of the heat. This method has 

 not a single advantage to commend it, is 

 cruel and is positively illegal. If it is al- 

 lowable to remove a nest and carry it 50 

 or 100 feet away, it is equally allowable to 

 carry it a few feet farther and take it 

 home, which of course is against the law. 

 This year there are many imitators of this 

 method, and doubtless you will receive a 

 number of photos taken in this way. Your 

 action in regard to these will have much 

 to do with the future of our birds. This 

 method is a great retrograde movement in 

 the present wave of protection, and must 

 be stamped out. I have refused a number 

 of photos taken in this way, and shall do 

 all I can to stop the further practice of it. 

 You are in a position to accomplish much 

 in this matter, and I have noticed you do 

 not shirk when the protection of birds is at 

 stake. 



C. A. Reed, 

 Editor American Ornithology, 



Worcester, Mass. 



ANSWER. 



I am grateful to Mr. Reed for his timely 

 caution. A number of bird pictures have 

 been entered in my competition, but none 

 that I can identify has been made by the 

 method Mr. Reed outlines. Had any pic- 

 tures turned up that had been obtained by 

 this cruel process, they would have been 

 promptly thrown out and returned to the 

 maker. — Editor. 



BACKED PLATES AND RAYFILTERS. 



Please give me a simple formula for a 

 quick drying and easily removed prepara- 

 tion for backing plates. Which will pro- 

 duce the best results as to color values, 

 ordinary plates used with a rayfilter, or 

 orthochromatic plates without the screen? 

 A. R. Sedgley, Wakefield, Mass. 



ANSWER. 



There is no published formula for back- 

 ing which is not slow in drying and very 

 sticky. You can get a cake of what you 

 want from Edward W. Newcomb, Bible 

 House, New York, for 50 cents. It will 



last you a year unless you are an enor- 

 mous user of plates, and it dries quickly 

 and removes with a rub of a damp cloth. 

 His formula is not published. 



After a long series of tests no definite 

 answer can be given as to which will pro- 

 duce the best color values, ordinary plates 

 used with a rayfilter or orthochromatic 

 plates. The results depend on the 

 light and the kind of plate used, 

 the density of the screen, and, more 

 than all, on the subject. Where 

 exact rendering of color values is 

 sought, and the subject contains a prepon- 

 derance of colors below the screen, ortho- 

 chromatic plates without the rayfilter 

 would undoubtedly be better than ordinary 

 plates with the rayfilter. If the reverse is 

 true, the ordinary plates with a moderately 

 light rayfilter would give the best results. 

 Where speed is required, a fast orthochro- 

 matic plate without the rayfilter will give 

 greater speed than ordinary plates with 

 the rayfilter. 



I do not, however, see the necessity of 

 considering such an inquiry as this, for if 

 it be possible to use orthochromatic plates 

 the addition of the rayfilter gives a perfect 

 combination, and where it is impossible to 

 use them a rayfilter gives better results 

 with ordinary plates than no rayfilter. — 

 Editor. 



HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS. 



Blisters, which are so commonly encoun- 

 tered in making bromide or other prints, 

 may be prevented by passing the print out 

 of the fixing bath into a strong solution of 

 common salt, and gradually diluting this 

 until the print is washed. Blisters may 

 also be prevented by using a weak 

 fixing bath and leaving the print in for 

 a longer time. It is the rapid dissolution 

 of the chemicals in the film that causes 

 blistering, and either of tire above will 

 afford a more gradual change. 



Sometimes the insides of box cameras 

 are not properly blackened, and if the black 

 on the inside is glossy or worn off in parts, 

 reflections are apt to produce fog on the 

 plates. A good dead black varnish for 

 woodwork may be easily made by mixing 

 gold size with lamp black, or vegetable 

 black, and diluting with turpentine to the 

 consistency required. The less size used 

 the more dead will be the surface, so use 

 no more size than is sufficient to bind the 

 mixture. 



Negatives that are thin and flat, whether 

 from under exposure or under develop- 

 ment, if they are full of detail may be made 

 to yield beautiful prints, by printing 

 through one or more thicknesses of tissue 

 paper, or by covering the glass side of the 

 negative with any ground glass substitute. 



A good effect is sometimes produced 'by 



