WITH BEAK AND CLAW 29 



The Encyclopaedia talked about the use of climb- 

 ing-irons when bird's-nesting, but there were two 

 main disadvantages to this advice in Shan's case. 

 In the first place, he did not have the climbing- 

 irons; in the second place, he wore no boots on 

 which to strap them. Not, however, that they 

 would have done him much good in this case, for 

 the scaly reddish bark of the red cedar, with its 

 broad plates and narrow fissures, gives a poor foot- 

 hold. 



He recalled the injunctions once given him by 

 his uncle : 



**The only way to climb a tree, boy," he said, 

 *'is with hands, feet, teeth and eyelashes." 



Shan thought that this was undoubtedly the sys- 

 tem he would have to adopt that day. 



"I don't believe there's anything doing," the 

 boy commented, after he had spent a quarter of 

 an hour studying the tree from every angle, ''but 

 I've just got to have those eggs. I'd hate to have 

 Bull know I was beaten by a Fish-Hawk ! ' ' 



He set down his collecting-box, pulled off a leaf 

 from a wild persimmon tree and went to chewing 

 it thoughtfully. The boy had all the day before 

 him, and it was not worth while to undertake the 

 climb unless he were reasonably sure that there 



