FLASHLIGHT STORY OF PORCUPINE AND COON 



581 



Photo by George Shiras, 3rd 



SIXTH SUMMER! A DIFFICULT PICTURE TO secure, it being necessary TO LOWER 

 CAMERA AND FLASH MACHINE TO SURFACE OF WATER TO CATCH THE 

 ANIMAL, WHICH WAS ALMOST HIDDEN UNDER A MAPLE 



bough: august 13, 1906, 10 p. m. 



The wide distribution of the coon and 

 his abundance in the more settled por- 

 tions of the country, together with his 

 voracious appetite, often makes him a 

 nuisance to the farmer. Ground-breed- 

 ing birds, as well as those in the highest 

 trees, are greatly reduced in localities 

 where the coon is at all numerous. In 

 the Southern rivers, lakes, and along the 

 Gulf of Mexico, all the large colonies of 

 breeding birds are located on islands and 

 sandbars ; otherwise they would be un- 

 able to rear any of the young. Just what 

 a single coon can do in a poultry yard is 

 referred to later (see page 592). 



In the following biographies of a white 

 porcupine and a coon it may be noted 



that all the pictures were taken by flash- 

 light, and that each series represents two 

 quite distinct methods of night photogra- 

 phy. The porcupine was taken from the 

 bow of the canoe, the flash being fired 

 by hand, and at the instant when the 

 animal was in focus and in the best at- 

 tainable position — a method that I have 

 generally followed in photographing 

 moose and deer ; while all the pictures of 

 the coon were taken automatically by the 

 animal pulling on a piece of bait attached 

 to a string connected with the flashlight 

 apparatus, the variety in surroundings 

 and in position being regulated by prep- 

 arations made in advance. 



Though fully 30 pictures were made of 



