IN BIRD-LAND WITH FIELD-GLASS AND CAMERA.
In Bird-Land with Field-Glass and Camera. By Oliver G. Pike. (T. Fisher Unwin. 6s.)—Several books very similar to the one before us have recently been published. Instead of collecting skins and birds' nests, the modern field-naturalist contents him. self with photographing, and when he has got together a certain number of plates, he illustrates a book and publishes his notes and observations. Mr. Pike writes pleasantly enough on the bird- life round his home in the northern suburbs of London, in the New Forest, and on the Norfolk Broads. He does not tell us much that - is new ; but for all that, many persons who love Nature will read his book with pleasure. Some of his photo- graphs are good, and the patience which must have been expended on obtaining those of the living birds deserves admire_ tion. But the amateur photographer is apt to be over-well satisfied with the productions of his camera, and some of those in the present volume are hardly worth reproducing. Yet photographing birds and birds' nests is a harmless pastime, and exercises such charms over those who turn to it, that we could have wished that Mr. Pike described more fully his methods for the benefit of those who may care to imitate him. He uses a half-plate camera and s silent shutter of the Thornton- Pickard, time and instantaneous, pattern. It is fixed inside the camera, and a velvet padding deadens the noise of the shutter, which would otherwise startle the bird at the critical moment. A good length of pneumatic tubing is also required, and an exposure of about a twentieth of a second has proved the most successful. Of course, for moving birds a much quicker exposure is necessary.
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