THE OOLOGIS'J- 



31 



;iae— about one liumh-ed to two hun- 

 <lre(i feet long should l)e used as fol- 

 lows: Tie on to the end of the rope an 

 iron nut or stone and throw over the 

 lirst strougf limb letting it slide back to 

 the ground, and fasten to climber just 

 under his arms. Then his companion 

 grasping the other end steadies him as 

 he ascends. 



From experience I know that there is 

 a great advantage in this mode, for be- 

 sides securing absolute safety to the 

 ■climber he can advance ujuch more rap- 

 idly and will nat be so tired as lie would 

 be without the aid of the rope. If ad- 

 »liti(jnal safety is desired it may he had 

 by embracing both the bodj- of the 

 (;limber and the trunk of the tree with 

 a strong strap, long enough to permit 

 abundance of space bet\\'eeti the climb- 

 er and tree. He leans back to keep the 

 strap rigid and as he advances raises 

 the strap above him. 



An old and well es'ablished method is 

 l)y using the strap alone in the manner 

 above described. I could never leiru 

 to use this method but others have used 

 it with good results. 



There has been various devises in 

 the way of light latlders, but my opin- 

 ion is that they should not be used ex- 

 cept in case the person collecting is by 

 himself, for when two are together 

 there is a much better substitute, which 

 though very simple is not practiced as 

 it could be. 



It consists oul}- in one climber mount- 

 ing the other's .■^boulders. To be ex- 

 plicit let me call one of our collecting 

 party number one and. the other num- 

 ber two. Number one bends his back 

 low enough for number two to stradle 

 his neck. Number two obtains this po- 

 sition by advancing with his back to 

 number one's face. Now number one 

 raises to an erect position by pressing 

 hard on his knees with his hand. Ten 

 to one this brings number two high 

 enough to reach the lower branches. 

 This position is easily and quickly ob- 



tained doing away with the short lad- 

 der. 



To show the effectiveness of this sys- 

 tem I will i-ite an actual case. While 

 out collecting with a friend we found a 

 Cuckoo's nest in one of those troul)le- 

 some thorn trees which could not be 

 ascended by way of the trunk. We 

 were about to pass by, but being very 

 desirous of the eggs we stopped and 

 took a survey. There was directly un- 

 der the nest a stout limb ten feet from 

 the ground; three feet above and a little 

 to one side was another. This Jimb 

 divided into two smaller branches 

 which would give a good foothold to 

 one standing on them; six feet above 

 was the nest. The situation and ques- 

 tion was:— A nest was far out from the 

 trunk of an "unclimbable" tree, and I'.i 

 feet from the ground. How was it to 

 be reached? Easy enough. My com- 

 panion bent h".s liack and in a trice I 

 could reach the first limb spoken of. 

 Breaking off a few thorns I easily climb- 

 ed onto it and was soon standing on 

 the forked one three feet above. Now 

 the nest was easily reached. 



Oftentimes there are nests far out on 

 slendi-r bi'acches which are left because 

 the branches will not bear the weight. 

 Many such nests could be taken by this 

 method. If they can not be reached by 

 sitting on the shoulders then stand or if 

 need-s l)e stand on the supporters head. 



To obtain this position is a little diffi- 

 cult but can soon be mastered by prac- 

 tice. In this number one does noi bend 

 so far as before. Number two firmly 

 grasps the shoulders and placing the 

 right knee on number one"s back li^jhtly 

 spi'ings upward, placing the left knee 

 on number one's left shoulder, then the 

 right foot on number one's right should- 

 er he arises to a standing position. Now 

 number one slowly arises,steadies num- 

 ber two by holding firmly to his legs. 

 In doing this the shoes should be le- 

 moved and it should be pi'acticed at 

 first at the tree trunk using it as a sup- 



