260 The Osprey 
Having visited the same nest ten days earlier, when we found it 
empty, I had reckoned upon the same man who then descended, 
and who knew the difficulties of the job, repeating the operation. 
But I was mistaken. Noticing that there was a hitch in the pro- 
ceedings, I called out. The reply was that there was a difference 
of opinion as to who should go over, each of my athletes insisting 
on his right to do so, the one because he had been before, the 
second because he had not been! It was no time to palter, and so, 
with the decision begot of military training, I ordered the senior 
officer to proceed, which he promptly did. 
Those only who have been in really dangerous situations in big 
cliffs can appreciate the difference between having men as assistants 
who endeavour to dissuade one from an adventurous descent, as has 
frequently been my experience, or, as in this case, having men who 
actually quarrel as to which is to be the privileged individual to go 
over! With such assistants as I had on this glorious day I would 
long since have had no more worlds to conquer, in a birdsnesting 
sense. This nest contained two fresh eggs on 10 May, and these 
in my opinion were a second laying, due to the first having been 
molested or destroyed in some way. 
Another’s Osprey’s nest, of which I was fortunately able to get 
some photographs, was also on a sea-cliff, but in an altogether 
different position. In this case the Ospreys had as their defence 
not only a formidable cliff consisting of several terraces (always the 
most perplexing to tackle), but the summit of the cliff as well as the 
terraces was densely overgrown with prickly pear, making access 
most difficult. Added to this, below lay a steeply sloping talus of 
fine débris, fallen from the cliff above, which it was necessary for 
us to traverse from the point where we landed, before escalading 
the cliff at a weak spot. How dangerous was this talus in places 
was proved by Admiral Farquhar on another occasion; for one of 
his party, attempting to cross it gun in hand, found it impossible 
