Sept., 1882.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



1.7.1 



is fiilly comprehended in practice, im 

 mense chestnuts can he cHmhed hy merely 

 touching the tips of the tinkers in the 

 ridges of bark. The breast and knees 

 must be kept away from the tree, the 

 proper position being like a horizontal let- 

 ter V. Watch the hne-men at work upon 

 the telephone and Western Union poles 

 and fair examples may be often seen. 



Scientific climbing, then, is the exact 

 opposite of -shinning," and if you have 

 been accustomed to the primitive method, 

 it must all be unlearned here. Remember, 

 the moment the centre of the body comes 

 near the tree the spiu-s will lose their grip. 

 The eyes and feet do the work, and not 

 the arms as indicated in the extract used 

 for our text. If the arms are " thro\m 

 around" the tree the climber cannot see 

 his feet : but with the body at the proper 

 angle he will see where to strike each foot 

 and cannot fail to notice that one spur is 

 all right before pulling out the other. 

 After careful practice will come con- 

 fidence and rapid work, which it will be a 

 pleasure to witness, and which will be sat- 

 isfying to the pride of the climber. It is 

 as pleasurable to me in all respects to see 

 a bit of scientific climbing as to witness a 

 fine ])iece of skiting or dancing. I have 

 in mind now three trees, pronounced inac- 

 cessible by farmers, which my climber 

 ascended without hesitation. One. a 

 chestnut four feet in diameter and forty 

 feet without a limb, the cradle of Great 

 horned Owls. Another, a smooth black- 

 oak, limbless for fiftj' feet, the home of 

 Buteos. The third is a shining ]3inc shaft 

 in the Ledyard Cedar Swamp, barkless 

 through lightning, on which a Fish Hiwk 

 had stuck its heap of rubbish. When I 

 reflect on this expert's apparently natural 

 yet scientific work, never making a false 

 strike, ascending quickly, smoothly, almost 

 noiselessly, till he seems like some great 

 arboreal animal, I am tempted to head 

 this article Climbing as a Fine Art. So it 

 is with indignation that I read the mis- 



leaiUug paragraphs in Ingia-soH's treatise. 

 In that essay stress is laid upon the 

 fatigue of using irons. I ha\e hear<l no 

 complaint from climbers, and personal use 

 in light work for three seasons has 

 brought me no discomfort. It is certainly 

 effortless compared with " shinning." It is 

 well known that shinning is the most ex- 

 hausting of all work, throwing great 

 str.iin upon the arms and subjecting the 

 lungs to an enormous pressure. Any 

 iron-worker will make creepers after your 

 model, and some little experience is need- 

 ed before you find a pair of the right 

 weight and size and with the proper dip 

 to the spurs. All modern ones are kept 

 padded at the ankle and points exposed to 

 chafing. In conclusion we may add that 

 no one who has used climbing-irons will 

 be without them in early Spring field 

 work, and I find that no inducement can 

 make a professional climber shin up a tree 

 in the old lung-breaking way. — J. M. W.. 

 N'oni'ich. (lonn. 



Lapwing {Vanellus rrittUtttis) Pewit, 

 Green Plover, Crested L.\pwinc,. — This 

 beautiful bird is distributed over nearly 

 the whole of the British Isles and is also 

 found in many parts of Europe, in North- 

 ern Asia and .Africa. It is very common 

 in China. The common name of this bird 

 is from its cry Fee-irit. It can be heard 

 during the night as well as the day, for 

 the bird always seems to be on the alert. 

 In Summer the Lapwings are met with in 

 pairs, in Winter in large flocks. In Sum- 

 mer if any one approaches its breeding 

 grounds the Pewit becomes very daring 

 and will come to within a few yards of the 

 egg hunter, but in Winter it is very diifi 

 cult to get within shot of it. The eggs 

 are laid in a slight hollow on the groimd. 

 They are four in number and are very 

 beautiful, the ground color being cream 

 splashed with dark brown and black. 

 The eggs are considered a great delicacy 

 and are eagerly sought after, and in 

 many parts of the country during the 



