EAGLE NESTING. I. I HAD made arrangements with Malony, an Irishman living on the sea-coast, that he should let me know as soon as the young eaglets were fledged in a certain nest far down on the face of the cliff where I parted from him last year, and in due time the message came that the eaglets were in the nest and fully fledged. I accordingly repaired at once to the scene of my intended operations. 2. It took but the next day to communicate with the constable of the nearest police station and the chief boatman of the neighbouring coastguard, who undertook to give every assistance that strong arms and long ropes could afford, and the following morning we arrived at the cliff on which we had stood a year previously. The news of my intended attempt had spread far over the mountain, and the cliffs were lined by over a hundred of the inhabitants. The coastguard had brought with them a long four-inch cable and a coil of small rope, both of which had been lying for some years in the boat-house. 3. The plan of operations had been already decided upon. I was to let the large cable over the cliff as a standing rope by which to go down; and the smaller rope fastened under my arms would keep off some of my weight when descending. But first the cable, on which I should have to depend, must be tested. Ready and willing hands were available, and a rattling tug of war with twenty men at either end proved the rope sufficiently strong. The Tug of War is a game in which a rope is pulled in opposite directions by two parties, placed one at each end. 4. Now for the determination of the distance of the nest from the top of the cliff, which seemed quite perpendicular and was six or seven hundred feet high. The point from which the nest could be seen with a glass was about a quarter of a mile away, and here we stood while the rope was lowered away until it fell directly over and a few yards below the nest. It was then hauled up, and the distance measured on the mountain. In this way it was found that the nest was three hundred feet from the top. A knot was then placed upon the rope at every fathom, to give additional hold in descending and ascending; and three hundred and twenty feet being thrown over the cliff, and a couple of turns taken round the handle of a spade stuck in the soft mould, the end being held by three men, the preparations were nearly complete. 5. As the cliff had fallen away, leaving the superincumbent' turf (about ten feet thick) hanging over, it was not safe to go to the edge, as the mass of turf might fall away at any moment. Therefore the only place from which a view of the cliff's face could be had was the point before mentioned, where the constable obligingly stationed himself with a flag in his hand to signal to the men holding the small rope to haul up or lower away, as I might signal with my hand. A revolver tied to a cord fastened to my shoulder supplied a weapon of defence in the event of an attack by the parent birds. 6. Everything was now ready; and, with the smaller rope fastened under my arms, creeping over the curtain of turf, I came to the very brink, where the standing rope passed over. The day was per1 Superincumbent, overlying. fectly calm; but down below great waves rolled in from some storm at sea, and broke over the jagged rocks at the foot of the cliff. An old eagle floated past about a hundred feet below me; its wings spread, and not the faintest movement visible as it sailed along, until it rounded the point of the west. 7. At last I was over the cliff; and, after I had surmounted the feeling that at such a height no rope could bear me, I went down steadily enough, the men keeping a strain upon the rope that relieved my arms, and the frequent knots affording resting places. About fifty feet down, the rope rested against the cliff, some loose stones showing at the place. These stones were carefully scraped out before I ventured below them, as a block worked out by the rope and falling on my head a hundred feet or so below would have killed me. From that point I swung clear of the cliff, which receded a little; and when at length I came opposite the ledge on which the nest was built, I found myself swinging about eighteen feet from it. 8. This was not a pleasant discovery. To get up a swing from rest on even thirty feet of rope requires no small amount of exertion, so the difficulty of getting a swing on two hundred and fifty feet may be imagined. However, at it I went, raising my feet behind, and pulling myself up by my arms; then throwing the body back to the full extent of the arms, and swinging forward as the body was again raised, to be thrown back and swung forward as before. It was well that I was in practice, for it was hard work. The exercise was, however, all the more exciting for being taken at the end of eighty yards of rope, and swinging over the roaring breakers below. Little by little the rope began to move-first a trembling motion, than an almost imperceptible oscillation,' which increased every moment, until at length I was fairly swinging to and from the cliff; now rushing forward in mid-air until I could nearly touch it; now flying back twenty feet from its face. 9. First my feet touched the ledge. Then they swung in well over it, until at last I was able to grasp an angle of the roof of a recess, the bottom of which formed the ledge on which rested the object of my adventure. Thus stopped in the swing, I would naturally have thrown myself forward with my hands, but was suddenly checked by the strain that the men above still kept on the small rope. My feet were planted further in than the place grasped above my head; and thus hanging outwards I was forced to remain until, in answer to a signal from the trusty constable at the point, the rope was slackened, and I found myself safely landed on the ledge. 10. It was about six feet deep, and on it was built the nest that looked from above about as large as a crow's. It was constructed entirely of bare heather twigs, and was almost exactly four feet high, quite round, and about five feet across. The top was flat, without any sign of an indentation in which the bird might have sat. Seated on this load of twigs was one young eagle, about the size of a turkey. He rested on the joints of his legs and his half-extended wings, while his dark brown feathers were all erect and his great yellow talons held ready to strike. To secure him was now the problem, as these claws looked dangerous. I knelt on the nest, and, after 'Oscillation, swinging to and fro. some trouble, succeeded in seizing him safely by the head. To put him into a flannel bag slung on my neck did not take long, and I had then time to make more careful examination. II. I had seen the eagles hunting and carrying off the quarry to the cliff. I did not know how skilful they were in its preparation for the young birds. On the nest were the half-eaten remains of a grouse and a hare. The skin of the hare was removed so carefully that it was drawn down over the legs as well as could have been done by any cook, and on the tender flesh thus exposed the young bird had been making his dinner. There was no sign of an unhatched egg, for which I looked: as there are usually two birds brought up by the eagles, which, when fledged, are driven away by the old birds, who will allow no poaching 2 on their preserves. 12. The time had now come to ascend the rope; and, well satisfied with my success, I turned to grasp it. It was dangling eighteen feet from where I stood! In the struggle to gain the ledge I had forgotten it, and, released from my grasp, it had swung back till it hung perpendicularly. The full horror of the situation burst upon me at once, and I sat down, overcome by a sickening terror. No human aid could bring the rope to me. I was invisible to those above, even if they ventured to the edge of the cliff. The constable could see me, but from the distance and position could not see that the rope was so 1 Quarry, their prey. 2 No poaching, &c., i.e., they won't allow any new comers to seek food in the places where they themselves are accustomed to find it. |