A very useful substitute for a tripod is the “Graphic” ball-and-socket clamp designed more especially for bicycle camerists. With it a camera can easily be attached to the limb of a tree, rung of a ladder, or, by screwing a block on to the head of the tripod, it may be employed in connection with the tripod—in fact its applicability will be evident to every one using it. _Plates._—Among the many excellent brands of plates now offered to photographers there is really very little difference. However, it is advisable to select the one you think the most rapid and use it to the exclusion of all others. Under certain circumstances—in photographing Robins, for instance—isochromatic plates will be found desirable, and where a strong head light can not be avoided nonhalation plates may be employed. So much industry, skill, and patience are generally required of the bird photographer before he makes an exposure that he should guard against all chances of failure from the photographic side. It is therefore advisable to thoroughly test plates which it is probable may be exposed on a very difficult subject. Under no circumstances should the plate holders be needlessly exposed to the light, and when the camera is to be left for an indefinite period with the slide drawn from the holder and plate ready to expose, it should be carefully wrapped in the dark-cloth. _Blinds._—As the sportsman constructs blinds in which he may conceal himself from his prey, so the bird photographer may employ various means of hiding from his subjects. The Keartons recommend an artificial tree trunk for use in wooded places and an artificial rubbish heap for open fields. The former may be made of light duck, painted to resemble bark, and placed over a frame. The frame of the Keartons’ is of bamboo, but I find white pine answers very well, the main things to be considered being lightness and portability. The frame should therefore be collapsible in order that it may be easily packed. The Keartons’ field blind or “rubbish heap” consists of an umbrella, to each of the ribs of which strips of bamboo four feet in length are tied. This is then covered with light brown holland and wisps of straw tied over it in such a way as to “virtually thatch the whole structure.” Doubtless cornstalks properly arranged would make an excellent field blind. It is difficult to carry one of these blinds in addition to a camera, etc., without assistance, and I fear that the inconvenience attending their use will restrict them to the few enthusiasts who count neither time, labor, nor cost in attaining a desired end. For my own part, I prefer, when possible, to conceal my camera and make the exposure from a distance rather than to weight myself with a portable blind and to endure the discomforts of being confined within it.