6 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
We flashed one on a night when. dark clouds hung low and rain 
threatened. He sat on a dead branch overhead, ghostly in the dim light 
of the jack. My mind also carries a very different: picture, memorable 
in its contrast, of another heron on another day, wading in distant shal- 
lows, looking white in the brilliant sunshine, unhurried and at peace with 
the world, as he fished languidly for his noonday meal. “The Great Blue 
Heron is the only bird I have ever photographed by flashlight from a 
boat. 
Loons, of course, are frequently encountered. “Chey seem to share 
our moods. ‘They laugh, they cheer, and often, when there is peace and 
quiet about us, their “lonesome” cry is tuned to echo our own thoughts. 
Our light makes them restless, but the parent birds will brave its dangers | 
to flutter and skitter close by in protection of their young. I might have 
Hashed one of these little ones had I not been too engrossed with the 
antics of the old bird. “The baby drifted right up to the boat so near to 
me that I could almost have touched it before it sought sanctuary Unaes 
water. I only saw it just before it dived. 
Loons belong to the northern night almost as surely as the Great 
Horned Owl, whose monotonous soliloquy complements so well the 
crackling of the northern lights. Occasionally, his shrill, raucous hunting 
call may make the night hideous and then, while the boat drifts idly, he 
may be watched high in a tall pine where he sits alert, ears erect, turning 
his head from side to side, opening wide his keen, strong beak—always well 
beyond the range of the camera. 
Little birds—the Song Sparrow and the White-throat—may be 
startled into wakefulness by the flood of light from our jack and reward 
us with a few measures of sleepy song. 
To be truthful, it must be told that flashlight photographs of birds 
taken from a boat or with a set camera have been largely accidental with 
me. ‘Ihe main objects of my efforts have been mammals, though bird 
pictures are always welcome accidents. 
‘The set camera offers broader possibilities and greater variety because 
of its propensity for adding to the photographic “bag’’ by daylight. Almost 
any kind of bait may bring in a scavenger, furred or feathered. 
On the shore of one of several small, inland lakes to which I am 
especially partial, there is a stretch of sand beach where much history of 
life in the animal kingdom is daily written. Here I set two cameras, 
hidden from view of each other by a stubby promontory. ‘he weather 
was exceedingly hot and dry. My patience was tried and my ingenuity 
taxed to keep my bait fresh. Meat, mice, fish—all dried up almost over- 
night. Even crawfish seemed to lose their succulence. All manner of 
small animals played about and whisked over my wires. Red squirrels, 
chipmunks and mice left myriad tracks and sometimes tripped the flash. 
Songbirds flew into the wires. Always the result was the same—a blur on 
the negative. 
