226 Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker 07i the [Ibis, 



they were engaged in constructing. We started early in the 

 morning, and after climbing some 3000 feet of the mountain 

 the sides began to get more and more rugged, great outcrops 

 of rock covering them, but divided and broken up by strips 

 of evergreen forest. Endless ferns and bracken grew every- 

 where, and mighty masses of orchids hung from every tree, 

 some of these already showing brilliant patches of colouring 

 where the blooms peeped between the branches. It was not, 

 however, until we were well over 4000 feet that the climbing 

 was really steep, and from about 4500 to 5000 feet there were 

 many small, almost unclimbable cliffs, round which we had to 

 work our way until, arrived on the summit itself, we stood 

 on a tiny flat patch of ground looking over a steep cliff on 

 one side, whilst on the other was the less precipitous slope 

 up which we had come. 



The trees here were still mostly evergreen, but were 

 stunted and twisted, their boughs distorted in one direction 

 by the prevailing winds, and loaded with vivid green moss 

 which fell in long streamers from their surface as well as 

 covering the main stems. Below there was but little under- 

 growth of any height, but everywhere, even in the crannies 

 of the rocks, grew endless species of caladiums, gloxinias, 

 begonias, and similar plants, whilst the scent of wild jasmine 

 filled the air. 



We were lying on the ground after lunch, most of us 

 drowsy in the hot sun, and resting preparatory to our 

 descent homewards, when my attention was attracted to two 

 Falcons dashing backwards and forwards, now high above us, 

 now quite close, and at intervals disappearing just below us 

 towards the cliff above which we were lying. Seeing that 

 they particularly haunted one special spot in the cliff, I crept 

 up to the edge of it and watched the birds as they flew, 

 screaming, to and from a small ledge which ran not twenty 

 feet below, and a little to one side of where I lay. Presently 

 one of the birds disappeared under the ledge, and did not 

 again appear until I dropped some small stones down, when, 

 with a shrill scream, she darted out and joined her mate 

 above. This certainly looked as if there was a nest under the 



