THE FIRE-ESCAPE RECOMMENDED. 19 



long arrows with heavy lead heads, a l)all of stout 

 linen cord one hundred and fifty feet long, and a 

 rope of the same leng-th and one inch in diameter. 

 Having found a nest, shoot an arrow with the cord 

 attached to the shaft over the limb close to the nest, 

 then pull over the rope, make a loop in one end and 

 seat yourself securely in it. With the assistance of 

 your friend you can easily draw yourself up to the 

 nest. When you reach it (for you need both hands in 

 removing the nest) , let the person assisting you take 

 a turn with the rope around the trunk of the tree ; in 

 this way he can hold you securely without danger of 

 letting you fall." 



The plain objection to this is its cumbersomeness 

 and general impracticability. One hundred and fifty 

 feet of three-inch rope would weigh between forty 

 and fifty pounds. A man would not want to carry 

 this a great distance on a Avarm spring day, in addi- 

 tion to the other apparatus mentioned and his lunch, 

 which the writer forgot to include in his list, but 

 would doubtless remember in actual experience. If 

 it is replied that the proper way is to take the cable 

 and the rest of it in a w^agon ; then I suggest that 

 the collector might as well at once provide himself 

 with a fire-escape, or a series of pyramidal extension 

 ladders which could be set up underneath the nest 



