PHOTOGRAPHING A NEST IN A TREE.

Wlicn the end of the rope reached the prisoner in the cave, he was afraid to entrust himself to it, lest it should not be properly secured at the top. As soon as my brother reached the sunmiit of the cliff, ho^"ever, he found it twisted round a huge boulder of rock weighing many tons, and in addition held bv eiii'lit stalwart Irish labourers, who had been called from their work to assist.

Nests built near the tops of high isolated trees are often very difificult to photogra})h, on account of the fact that they are situated amongst slender branches. That of the Carrion Crow comes under this category, as the bird loves a site which commands a good view of her surroundings in order that she may have early intimation of the approach of danger, and make good her escape. Another feature of this bird's nest is that it is extremely deep, thus preventing her eggs from rolling out when the structure is roughly swayed to and fro by a gale of wind, and at the same time neces-sitating the photographer, who would show them in a picture, getting well above it to make his study. In the early part of March, 1800, we examined an old nest belonging to this species in an isolated tree growing in a meadow not far from where we live; and as the owner had begun to clean it out and re})air it, amongst other things with green honeysuckle, and it was very awkwardly situated for photographic purposes, we removed it, thinking that the bird would go to another and more suitable tree in the neighbourhood.

Our molestation did not, however, interfere with her affection for the situjitioii, and slu' speedily laid the foundation sticks of a new nest close by where the old one had stood. The third

SPAFROAZ-HAWK'S NEST AND YOUNG.

or fourth day after she liacl commenced this she changed her mind, probably discovering that the twigs would not bear the weight of her new home, and began to work at a fresh one a yard or two away upon stouter branches. In a yery short time she had entirely used up the materials from the forsaken site, and a week after the completion of her last effort it contained four eggs, which Ave discovered by means of our l)it of looking-glass on the end of a rod. As we were anxious to make a photograph showing the eggs in the nest, and it was impossible to do so without fixing something up to enaljle us to get above it, we borrowed a twent}-- foot ladder from a friendly farmer. It will be seen is fromfrom the illustration on page 3-1:3—which a photograph kindly taken for us by our friend,

isMr. J. H. Powell, of Balham—that the ladder as nearly ]3erpendicular as may be. This was the only position possible, because the branches to which we lashed it would have snapped like matches through the leverage produced by our combined weight if it had been placed at any angle. When the legs of the tripod had been lashed to the ladder, and the camera focussed, my brother's next difficulty was to get his dark slide in and the plate exposed without interfering with the precise adjustment of the apparatus. In order to accomplish these feats, he was obliged to hold on to one of the rungs of the ladder with his teeth and thus leave his hands free to work with.

Another difficulty now presented itself. The branches upon which the nest was resting, and the slender twigs around it, would not keep still, aiul, incredible as it may seem, each pulse-beat taking place in our bodies was distinctly indicated by them.

PHOTOGRAPHING A KINGFISHER’S NESTING HOLE IN A RIVER’S BANK.

In the case of a nest which can he photographed from a neiglibourini;- tree, my brother ascends, and having selected a position from which he can get a good view, dro])s one end of a rope to me upon the ground, and I tie his apparatus to it. He then liauls it up, and lasliing the tripod to the handiest branches, he makes his picture. I^he illustration on page -j^-") was obtained in this way, and the ascent nearly resulted in a serious accident, from the snapping of a rotten branch. Once or twice we have met with nests far out upon a branch, and as they coidd not be photographed either from the tree in which they were situated or any sur- SWALLOWS ON TELEGRAPH WIRE. romiding ones, we have, with the assistance of several strong men, hoisted a tall ladder into a per})endicular position near the nest, and fixed it with guide ropes tied to adjoining-trees. My brother has then mounted to the top, or as far up as was necessary, and done his work.

The group of Cormorants on page 251 was obtained in a rather curious niaimei-. My l)rotIi('r and our friend, Mr. W. J. Usslier, an enthusiastic Irish ornithologist, Avei-e staying for a few days on the Saltee Islands alread}' mentioned, and as

METHOD OF PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS’ NESTS SITUATED IN HIGH HEDGES.

they had no boat and the birds were breeding on a detached rock between twenty and thirty yards away, he conceived the notion of swimming over to them with a rope round his neck and then hauling his apparatus across after him. His tirst attempt to swim the channel was attended by a rather nasty accident. He had the misfortune to get his legs entangled in some seaweed, and before he could extricate himself a breaker hurled him back against the rocks, from which he had just started, with such force that he was badly bruised, scratched, and cut. In spite of his hurts, however, he struck out again, and eventually succeeded in reaching the Cormorants' crag, with the blood trickling down both legs, to the great alarm of his companion. The rocks on either side of the channel being a good height above the waves, enabled them to get the camera across on the rope without anything touching the water except the legs of the tripod.

The picture on page 84:8 of a pair of Swallows on a telegraph wire was obtained by rearing a lone* ladder against one of the interior walls of a lofty barn and putting the front of the camera through a ventilator. At the foot of the ladder a chained bull was praying all the while in a deep bass voice that some unhicky slip might deliver the photographer and his bit of mahogany and brass over to his untender mercies. in nuiking some very good We have succeeded pliotographs from l)oats, but such pictures require a good light and a rapid exposure, on account of the difliculty of keeping any craft in tlu' water al)Solutely still. In the case of such nests or other objects as are photographically una])pr()achable except from a boat, and circumstances render a time ex})osure imperative, we take soundings of the

WATER VOLE.

depth of water between the vessel and the subject to be pictured, and then lash stout sticks of suitable length to the legs of the tri})od and lower the whole overboard. Where a boat cannot be requisitioned, and the stream or lake is not too deep, the photographer walks into the water and does his work, as shown

SPARROWS AND CHAFFINCHES ON THE SNOW.

in our illustration on page 847 of my brother in the act of picturing the nesting hole of a Kingfisher.

Many birds' nests situated in tall liedges and Imshes give the photographer a great deal of ti'ovdjle, on account of their elevation making it difficult to })rocure a good view of the eggs or young. We get over inconveniences of this kind by mounting the tri])od on impi-ovised stilts cut from any suitable sticks growing handy, and my brother focussing from my shoulders, as shown in the somewhat odd-looking illustration on page 849.

PHOTOGRAPHING KINGFISHER.

Such wild animals as Rabbits, Hedgehog's, and Voles require very patient waiting for, with the camera well hidden. We cover ours with a green focussing cloth, which has each of its four corners weighted with gunshot to prevent it from flapping in a breeze, and then hide the front with bushes, taking care, however, that no drooping leaf stands a chance of interposing itself between the lens and the ol:)ject to be i)hotogra])hed. My brother then lies up at a convenient distance with the binoculars, and waits until the object he desires to photograph comes within the field of focus, and exposes his plate by a squeeze of the air- ball at the end of the pneumatic tube controlling his silent shutter.

Birds on their nests feeding their young, and at rest in their natural haunts, are photographed in a similar manner. The great secret of all field work is the power to keep absolutely still for a prolonged period of time. I have stood like a statue in a perfectly exposed place beside a small cattle pond for half an hour on a calm summer's evening, and had five Eabbits, four Voles, and two or three common Brown Rats within a dozen yards of me fighting, feeding, swimming, and playing with the utmost unconcern, until I stirred, when they all disappeared as if Ijy magic. My brother waited a whole day foi- the picture of the Vole on page 351, and so confiding did the little animal become towards evening that it hopped up to him and smelt his boots, and even liid itself l^eneatli his legs, as he sat with Ills knees drawn u]) in a high clump of thistles, upon the approach of a man who happened to be passing the ])ond in the banks of which it lived. Most birds ai'C as frightened of the Cy('l()])s-looking lens of a camera as they are of a luiman

A SURREY KINGFISHER.

355

being, and it is only its absolute stillness that re-assures them. I have seen many a one hop close round the back of our hidden apparatus a long while before it dared go to its nest, with the awful eye on it in front.

When snow is on the ground in winter, we feed the birds in our garden, and then photograph them with the apparatus hidden beneath the ample folds of a white sheet or large table cloth.

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