PHOTOGRAPHING LIONS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143769, 18 April 1912, Page 3

PHOTOGRAPHING LIONS.

NATURALIST’S WEIRD AD- ! VENTURES. Mr. A. Radcl,yffe Dugmore, F.R.G.S., lecturing at Edinburgh on “Stalking Big Game with a Camera,” gave accounts of some exciting experiences which he had in different parte, of the . world when securing photographs of wild animals in their native haunts. When dealing with the rnorodangerouv creatures, the method adopted was ,for the operator to stand with the camera while a companion stood ready with a loaded rifle in case of a surprise. On one occasion Mr. Dugmore was charged by a rhinoceros. He got a photograph of it in full career when it was within fifteen yards of him. Buckshot and a soft bullet failed the animal, and Mr.. Dugmoye’s companion danced about.in fronkof it and emptied his revolver into its face at a range of from, three to six yardsv This did not upset the monster in the' least, and Mr. Dugmore had an anxious moment before a Masai attendant drove a spear eighteen inches into its side and diverted it. The same native had killed a lion single-handed with the same spear two weeks previously. . The manner of photographing jjona was as follows: —A zebra ’ caro|ss teas used as a bait, cameras being conceal- ; ed behind barriers of branches. On the third night of watching the lecturer said that with his ear to the ground! he was able to distinguish the dull thud of a lion’s walk. At first ho could see nothing, but he gradually made out a huge lion staring at him. He pressed the trigger of . the ‘ flashlight,which' frightened the lion terribly. He went off to a distance of two or three hundred yards, and stayed there for over an hour telling them what it thought of them.

Another night as they were watching at the spot chosen a lioness came, followed a little later by three others, making a curious crunching son^i. The lecturer said he would like to giro his audience some idea of the horror of that kind of work. After the flash went, they had to move out into the darkness, and take out the plate which had been exposed, setting the camera for the nest flash. The small hand-light they carried moved up and down, and ever} 1 shadow looked like a. lion. The worst part of it all was the horrible growling that went on the whole time. One lion kept walking backwards and forwards at their rear, and he could distinctly hear it breathing. Tiro other''three kept up an incessant growling in front of them for a oonple of hours. Suddenly they made a bound at him, hut turned off when within five yards’ range. Mr. Dugraore had shown one of his lion photographs to Mr. Selous, the well-known hunter, who said that the lecturer did not know how nearly dead he had been when he took that picture. The lion had one of its fore-paws raised for a spring, and by his eyes Mr. Selous knew that it was only the flashlight which had stopped him. The picture gave the lion the appearance of being fat, which was due to his taking a long breath.