226 The Black Vulture 
Vultures had selected for their nest. So strongly was the big nest 
built that it was an easy matter to stand on it, although the 
slight oscillation of the tree made it somewhat awkward. My 
friend took a shot at me with the camera at the moment when 
I was triumphantly holding up the egg for him to see. 
Sending down the line I had brought up with me, I hauled 
up my camera. The difficulty which now presented itself was to 
get at a sufficient distance to work with the non-focusing lens. 
For this I required at least 7 ft. but from my position at the 
edge of the nest the utmost distance I could get from the egg 
was only 3 ft. Looking around, almost in despair, for some means 
of increasing my distance, my eye fell on a branch which, starting 
from the main trunk only 3 ft. below the nest ran out almost 
horizontally. Not only did this branch thus afford a conveniently 
situated foothold, but it ran in the direction of the sun. In other 
words, if only I could work out along it for 5 ft. to 6 ft., I would 
be able to take a photograph of the egg with the sun behind me. 
The branch itself was none too large to stand upon, about the 
thickness of a man’s thigh at first, but it rapidly got smaller, about 
6 ft. out dividing into two branches, which drooped downwards. 
I saw that if I went out along it more than 2 ft. from the nest I 
should have no handhold to depend upon. Clearly the only 
possible chance to work out along it with reasonable safety was 
to bring a rope into play. Here again luck was on my side, for 
projecting through the nest was a gnarled stump, evidently a por- 
tion of the top of the shivered trunk. I was still wearing my canvas 
sling round my body to which was attached my Alpine rope as 
a life-line in case of a slip. I now passed a bight of my rope 
round this stump, and gaining the branch, I stepped vey cautiously 
backwards, paying out the rope with one hand and with the other 
keeping my balance by a light touch on the edge of the nest, so 
long as it remained within reach of me. When less than 6 ft. from 
