180 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Yol. 14-No. 12 
to tie up, and go down the trail from the house 
that led to the rookery, about a mile. We had 
started out intending to get back for dinner, 
not having taken any lunch. ITow the inner 
man growled before we even came in sight of 
our haven of joy! We tramped and tramped 
to the end of the trail and out to the hare top 
of a hill, lugging camera and tripods (this was 
before the little detective had come to hand), 
hut no sign of hundreds and hundreds of nests. 
Would get no egg or views and back for dinner 
this day. I crawled back to the shade of a 
live oak on the trail, and sent out my brother 
collector on a survey. He came back in five 
minutes, saying he had struck them sure! We 
started again, hut soon came to a line of brush 
on the canyon side, where, far below, lay the 
wanted goal. Nothing must do but get there, 
Eli; so down through bush and brier, with 
plenty of poison oak put in here and there for 
kind of a warning notice “No trespass here.” 
After going into several squirrel-holes, and 
getting the brush out of my hair, still hanging 
to the camera-box, we dropped ourselves down 
under the shade of a California maple. Hark! 
what was that crash out of the tree ? On 
looking up, lo and behold a Great Blue Heron, 
and not over twenty-five feet from us a nest, 
and another further out. “By Gum” and 
there’s another, as the old Cornwall man 
says; but, like the fox and sour grapes, “so 
near and yet so far.” Below could he seen the 
gleaming silver of a cool stream in the bottom 
of the canyon. How our burning throats ached 
for it, but we did not dare go down there for 
fear of not getting out again. Such is the luck 
of a collector’s hunt on a blind trail, far from 
home and dinner, 1.30 p.m. , and no eggs either. 
1 had made up my mind I was not going 
to leave that place if 1 never got an egg or 
another dinner for a week, until I had a nest 
on every plate in my case. That was easier 
said than done, as the hill had a slope of 45° 
straight down to the creek bottom. 1 got some 
limbs cut out of the way, tripods set, and by 
this time the Herons began to come back and 
perch on the edges of their great bulkily built 
nests of sticks and branches. One now and 
then could be seen craning his long neck, the 
better to see what was going on below by those 
odd-looking coons. I had to hang on to one of my 
tripod legs to keep from taking a header down 
the hill. It was now or never; so snap went the 
trigger, and I had one of the nests to look at in 
after days, a reminder of the pleasant times 
spent afield after birds and their homes. 
These plates proved fine ones on developing. 
On another trip made there with my friend 
Mr. Bryant, we got down to the rookery by the 
right trail to the canyon bottom. Four expo¬ 
sures were made : one at what I call the old 
Plum-pudding tree, a tall, bare, white syca¬ 
more, with twenty-two nests scattered through 
it; from the hillside eggs could be seen in the 
nests right and left, from two to four in each, 
with some of their downy young. 
On a small rifle being shot off all the herons 
took to wing, flying off down the canyon. I 
got a fine snap at them on one plate. Another 
plate shows the herons standing on some of 
the nests, and others on the great limbs of the 
live oaks. Several sets of eggs were taken, of 
two, three, and four, also downy chicks, and 
what odd-looking birds they were when put 
together on the ground side of the creek, 
where we sat to eat our lunch. Pretty soon we 
had a lot of fun: the largest gray-haired chick 
was at a set-to with his brothers, fighting with 
their large black bills like young roosters. The 
large one soon knocked out all his companions. 
The young herons all have long, grayish, 
hair-like down, quite long on the neck and 
head; hill and feet black, eyes grayish 
white. Their notes are coarse and squawk¬ 
like. All these nests were from 25 to 100 feet 
up, mostly in the sycamore trees, a few scat¬ 
tered in the live oaks and California maples. 
There must have been upwards of 250 nests in 
this heron rookery, and it has been occupied 
year after year for no one knows how long. 
The ground was well whitewashed under the 
trees inhabited, and a strong smell of guano 
greeted the collector wherever he stood. Many 
small fish-bones could he seen lying about the 
ground. 
A good detective camera taking a plate 4% x 
6 %, cabinet size, I find makes the best views, 
and allows to cut down in printing where a 
plate is not entirely perfect. Some prefer a 
4x5 for birds and nests. 
It is wonderful what can be done in the line 
of taking birds in flight or otherwise. (I be¬ 
lieve the first honor in this line of photography 
is given to Mr. E. Moybridge, a Californian, 
whom 1 have had the pleasure to meet; would 
advise the readers of these notes to see article 
on his works, Century Magazine , July, 1887, 
page 356. In the article a series of ten cuts 
are given of Golden Eagle in flight, showing 
the true position of the wings in motion.) With 
the quick eye of the lens and the sensitive 
plate, Gulls, Hawks, and Ducks on the wing, 
well as Cormorants, Herons, and all small birds 
on their nests, can be caught in their natural 
Dec. 1889. j 
AiND OOLOGIST. 
positions. It gives one a true idea of the 
bird’s motion and characteristics peculiar each 
to itself. One has a sure thing on identifica¬ 
tion in the field, collecting nests, leaving no 
doubts of the species to be settled by the gun. 
Some there are who may say, “ But you can’t 
get close enough to always do that.” Take 
time, just as you would to hunt or watch the 
bird in the case of your wanting to know what 
it is. I have yet to see the nest or bird in the 
bush that a true collector’s wits, of Nature’s 
facts, could not get within five or ten feet of 
his object long enough to spring a shot on his 
sensitive plate. 
As shy a little bird as the Hummers are, I 
have had my face within ten inches of the bird 
on the nest; the same with many Sparrows, 
Finches, Warblers, and even the timid Fly¬ 
catchers. I well remember the time I took a 
grand negative of the Farallone Cormorants, 
on one of my never-to-be-forgotten trips. How 
I set up my camera within five feet of them! 
Only four or five birds left the nests; they soon 
came back after circling several times over¬ 
head, and finally settling down on the edges of 
the nests, others covering the eggs at once, 
even picking the weeds from one another’s 
homes to place on their own, — a habit pecu¬ 
liar to the Cormorants. I found while tending 
the duties of incubation, in another plate of 
Western Gulls, they would walk around the 
nest, I suppose to see if it was in trim for “hav¬ 
ing their picture took,” like a country lass. 
I use for general work of this character a 
medium plate, not too quick in its action, for 
a better success is had in handling the devel¬ 
opment of it. 
Detective cameras can he had now all the 
way from ten to a hundred dollars or more. I 
will give a description of mine for the benefit 
of the O. & O. readers. Cost complete with 
one double plate-holder, $37.50 (made to order), 
and I would not give it for the best hundred 
dollar outfit in the market. It is made of Span¬ 
ish cedar, polished, 8% inches in height, same 
in depth, 6% wide, a focus range of 2% inches 
(outside of that is always in focus, a distance 
indicator marked off from 3 to 25 feet; outside 
of 25 feet is in focus on everything. Two field- 
finders, one for uprights. The shutter works 
in the lens, regulated for any desired time by 
a set of five notches (can be set for time ex¬ 
posure). The sliding cap over the lens when 
moved for exposure opens the finder at the 
same time, and on seeing the image on the 
finder, you know your lens is open ready for 
the snap of the shutter. Maker of lens, R. I). 
181. 
Gray, N. Y., Periscop No. 3, diaphragms are a 
revolving disk set in the lens next to the shut¬ 
ter. Carries two double holders for plates, 
and only weighs four pounds complete. Has 
a removable back to take out in case of indoor 
work. The lens front board lets down on 
hinges, so if anything gets out of order it can 
soon be remedied. I have wandered often 
from my subject, but hope it may have been 
of interest to the reader, and may be the 
means of drawing others out to give their ex¬ 
periences in this new field of hunting with 
something besides a noisy gun. 
W. Otto Emerson. 
Fruit Glen, Haywards, Cal., Oct v 1889. 
Will tin. kill., 'fi. b.j 100.7. / , 
Q,& O . XXV, D ec. 18G9 p.ltf//'/-/*/ 
