170 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 7-No. 22 



Climbers and Climbing. 



Herman III was bom in Germany, and 

 dm-ing his younger days travelled with a 

 circus company, which developed his mus- 

 cle, also gave him unbounded self confi- 

 dence and courage "to do" that we have 

 never seen equalled. He is a man true to 

 himself and friends always, and it was our 

 good fortune to have Mr. Ill in our em- 

 ploy from 1876 to 1881. and we often 

 called on him to climb trees tliat other- 

 wise would have remained unelimlied, and 

 many a jiair of hawks would have lieeu 

 gladdened by a nest of young, where now 

 the shells are sjji-ead over the United 

 States in various cabinets. At the time 

 we made use of Mr. Ill he was working 

 evei-y week day in a factory, and also run- 

 ning a farm between times, and yet he 

 found time to climb trees for us. Besides 

 being veiy strong Mr. Ill was also very in- 

 genious, as the following little episode 

 will show: One evening while riding home 

 bareback he noticed in front of him on an 

 overhanging slender limb a nest which lie 

 saw at once could not be got at in the 

 usual way. Quick as thought the horse 

 was under the limb with the rider stand- 

 ing on his back. At this moment the 

 horse espied a tuft of grass and moved to- 

 wai-ds it, while the rider whose hands and 

 eyes were upturned, unlike Absalom ]\Ir. 

 m measured his full length on the ground. 

 The horse was soon hurried back to his 

 250sition, when Mr. Ill jumjied up and 

 examined the nest which contained — noth- 

 ing. A good specimen of rapid bare- 

 back riding followed until the stable was 

 reached. We once went with Mr. Ill to 

 get some Bam Swallows' eggs when he 

 climbed up the posts and walked over the 

 beams like a cat. We trembled as we saw 

 him step from beam to beam so high up. 

 and with his hands full of nests and eggs. 

 We begged of him to be more careful or 

 he would certainly fall. All warnings were 

 met with a smile, and "I guess not, I no 



fall, this is noding." One evening we 

 took Mr. Ill in the carriage and drove out 

 a few miles west of Rockville to get some 

 Crow Blackbirds' eggs which were mostly 

 in immense elms so peculiar to Conn. 

 As on all excursions of this kind we took 

 the climbing irons and ropes along, and 

 often a hatchet and other imi^lements 

 needful. The first nest located was sad- 

 dled on an overhanging limb forty to fifty 

 feet from the trunk of the tree, and at 

 least eighty feet from the ground. We 

 should not have asked our climber to ven- 

 ture after this nest, but he made prepara- 

 tion at once to ascend the tree, when we 

 brought out the climbing irons and ropes, 

 which he would not touch, and any 

 proposition to use artificial means was met 

 with a smile of derision, he saying "I 

 climb any tree you find." This tree was 

 so large he could but reach about half 

 way round it, and for twenty to twenty- 

 five feet had nothing but the rough bark 

 to get hold of with his fingers. Daylight 

 was fast waning and j'et he went up the 

 tree without a slip. As he worked his way 

 along the overhanging limb we became 

 alarmed for his safety and begged him to 

 return, but we only got joking answers in 

 rei^ly. When he was passing the most 

 dangerous point as a last warning we said : 

 111, do be careful : his reply was, " Yes, my 

 vife she say so fore I leave home." The 

 nest was duly reached which we insisted 

 on his throwing down and not bringing 

 domi as he wanted to do. The eggs were 

 brought down in safety and in much less 

 time than it has taken us to tell it. This 

 was probably the most difficult feat in 

 climbing we ever witnessed. Mr. Ill has 

 climbed hundreds of monsters of the 

 forest for us and never used a climbing 

 iron, or ever received a fall. He has the 

 nerve, strength and will to overcome all 

 obstacles of this kind. We do not write 

 this to commend his method, but to show 

 what strength and nerve can accomplish in 

 climbing. 



