_What is Bird Photography?_—Bird photography, as I would encourage its
practice, does not mean simply photographing birds; it means the use of
the camera as an aid in depicting the life histories of birds. A picture
of the bird itself is, of course, of the first importance, but any fact
in its biography which the camera can be employed to portray is within
the province of bird photography.
_The Scientific Value of Bird Photography._—There are certain matters,
such as a bird’s song, its time of migration, etc., which must be set
forth with the pen; there are others, such as its haunts, nesting site,
nest, eggs, the appearance and development of its young, where the
camera is so far ahead of the pen in its power of graphic representation
that it is a waste of time to use the former when circumstances permit
the utilization of the latter.
A photograph of a marsh or wood showing the favorite haunts of a species
is worth more than pages of description. A picture of a bird’s nesting
site conveys a better idea of the situation than words can possibly
give, while in place of such vague phrases as “nest of coarse grasses,
weed stalks, rootlets, etc., lined with finer materials,” we have a
faithful delineation of the nest itself. The shape and pattern of
markings of the eggs may also be well shown with the camera, while the
appearance of the young at birth, their development, and often the
manner in which they are fed, may all be portrayed by the camera with a
realism which convinces one of the truthfulness of the result.
By the exercise of much patience and ingenuity we may also photograph
the adult bird, showing it at rest or in motion, brooding its eggs or
caring for its young. Under favorable conditions such pictures may
possess an exactness of detail which makes them perfect representations
of the original, giving not alone position and expression, but the
arrangement of the feathers, and they then have scientific value
unequaled by the best productions of the artist’s brush or pencil.
From the nature of the case, perfection in this branch of bird
photography is not always attained; nevertheless, even pictures which
are failures from a photographic standpoint may be of interest to the
naturalist. They may be lacking in detail and still give pose, thus
furnishing models from which drawings containing all structural
essentials may be made.
The camera may also supply us with graphic records of the few large
colonies of birds yet existing in this country, thereby preserving for
all time definite impressions of conditions which are rapidly becoming
things of the past.
What an invaluable addition to the history of the Great Auk would be a
series of photographs from Funk Island, taken during the period of its
existence there!
Of what surpassing interest would be photographs of the former flights
of Wild Pigeons, which the younger generations of to-day can with
difficulty believe occurred!
_The Charm of Bird Photography._—As a onetime sportsman, who yielded to
none in his enjoyment of the chase, I can affirm that there is a
fascination about the hunting of wild animals with a camera as far ahead
of the pleasure to be derived from their pursuit with shotgun or rifle
as the sport found in shooting Quail is beyond that of breaking clay
“Pigeons”. Continuing the comparison, from a sportsman’s standpoint,
hunting with a camera is the highest development of man’s inherent love
of the chase.
The killing of a bird with a gun seems little short of murder after one
has attempted to capture its image with a lens. The demands on the skill
and patience of the bird photographer are endless, and his pleasure is
intensified in proportion to the nature of the difficulties to be
overcome, and in the event of success it is perpetuated by the
infinitely more satisfactory results obtained. He does not rejoice over
a bag of mutilated flesh and feathers, but in the possession of a
trophy—an eloquent token of his prowess as a hunter, a talisman which
holds the power of revivifying the circumstances attending its
acquisition.
What mental vision of falling birds can be as potent as the actual
picture of living birds in their homes? And how immeasurably one’s
memories are brightened by the fact that this is not a picture of what
has been but of what is!
The camera thus opens the door to a field of sport previously closed to
those who love birds too much to find pleasure in killing them; to whom
Bob-White’s ringing whistle does not give rise to murderous speculations
as to the number in his family, but to an echo of the season’s joy which
his note voices. They therefore have a new incentive to take them out of
doors; for however much we love Nature for Nature’s sake, there are few
of us whose pleasure in an outing is not intensified by securing some
definite, lasting result.
We are not all poets and seers, finding sufficient reward for a hard
day’s tramp in a sunset glow or the song of a bird. Enjoy these things
as we may, who would not like to perpetuate the one or the other in some
tangible form?
And here we have one of the reasons for the collecting of birds and eggs
long after the collector’s needs are satisfied. He goes on duplicating
and reduplicating merely to appease the almost universal desire to
possess any admired although useless object. Once let him appreciate,
however, the pleasure of hunting with a camera, the greater skill
required, and the infinitely greater value of the results to be
obtained, and he will have no further use for gun, climbing irons, and
egg drill.
Furthermore, the camera hunter possesses the advantage over the
so-called true sportsman, in that all is game that falls to his gun;
there is not a bird too small or too tame to be unworthy of his
attention; nor are there seasonal restrictions to be observed, nor
temptations to break game laws, but every day in the year he is free to
go afield, and at all times he may find something to claim his
attention.
Finally, there is to be added to the special charm of bird photography
the general charm attending the use of the camera. Thousands of people
are finding pleasure in the comparatively prosaic employment of
photographing houses, bridges, and other patiently immovable objects
wholly at the camerist’s mercy. Imagine, then, the far greater enjoyment
of successes not only of real value in themselves, but undeniable
tributes to one’s skill both as photographer and hunter.
Nor should this introduction be closed without due acknowledgment to the
educational value of photography, to its power to widen the scope of our
vision, and to increase our appreciation of the beautiful. There is a
magic in the lens, the ground glass, and the dark-cloth which transform
the commonest object into a thing of rarest interest.
[Illustration: [Bird]]