5 ° 
THE CONDOR 
| VOL. VIII 
This was accomplished gradually by adding a twig or two day by day and with 
better results artistically. By the time, however, that all this education was fin- 
ished — and it was as much an education to me as to the birds — and delayed as it 
was by the complete destruction of my paraphernalia by a violent gale, the days 
were growing short and cool and the visitors came not only less frequently but 
too early in the morning or too late in the afternoon for any photography, and the 
work had to be abandoned. 
The photographs from 
which the accompanying 
cuts were made were taken 
with an ordinary 5x7 plate 
camera, not at all adapted 
to this sort of work, lent to 
me by a friend. Two ex- 
posures were taken on each 
plate for economy’s sake, 
and the camera was always 
set at a distance of four feet 
from the center of the bowl 
or mortar, as that was the nearest distance at which it would do fairly good work. 
While claiming no merit for these cuts they seemed of sufficient interest in the 
matter of the subject to warrant publishing, and I do so in the hope that others 
will follow out the idea of working up what can be done in this line in a 
dry country. 
GREEN-BACKED GOLDFINCHES 
San Francisco , California. 
