Tom Brown's Sound Advice 59 
have mentally ejaculated with Scud East “All up with the old 
Magpie now.” Tom's precept, “You can’t hurt if you get a 
good hand-hold. Try every branch with a good pull before 
you trust it and then up you go!” is unequalled in our lan- 
guage. To this I would add “Always get a hand-hold and 
foot-hold as near as possible to the trunk or branch you may be 
on.” By keeping these two rules in mind I have come with safety 
out of many hundreds of awkward and dangerous trees. To 
become a bold and successful tree climber does not require great 
bodily strength, else | should have never climbed at all, nor does 
it require powerful muscles. What is wanted is quickness, agility, 
ready resource and good nerve. The first three enable a man to 
work his way up many a tree which would defeat the mere 
gymnast whereas the last prevents him from being deterred by 
possible dangers, and, above all, when he does get into trouble 
helps him out of it. 
When trees are not too large to swarm up or have branches 
enough to help the climber on his way, no accessories in the way 
of ropes or irons are wanted and I propose to deal with this, the 
normal sort of tree climbing, first. The main obstacle to all tree 
climbing is the difficulty of surmounting the portion of the tree 
without branches. This exists in its most trying form in big fir 
trees and larches and here the gymnast is at an advantage. For 
many years I used to swarm up lofty fir trees after Ravens’ or 
Kites’ or Carrion Crows’ nests, many of them branchless for 30 to 
40 ft. The labour however is excessive and if many trees of 
such a type have to be visited in one day, it is far better to have 
recourse to ropes, of which more hereafter. 
When you have arrived among the branches, the nature of the 
tree must be kept in mind. Elms are brittle, oaks just the reverse. 
In fir trees rotten branches should be removed during the ascent ; 
not uncommonly they are rotten at the point of junction with the 
