Photographing Eagle Owlets 323 
on a very small scale it is true, but large enough to show one 
of the party descending to the cavern and those engaged in 
handling the rope at the summit. To some extent too it may 
graphically account for my dislike as described earlier in this 
chapter to going over this cliff without a rope or a friend to 
gather up the fragments. 
In 1907 I visited yet another well-known and long-established 
nesting place of the Eagle Owl, which has been regularly occupied 
by these birds to my knowledge since 1869, and probably for 
decades or centuries before that date. My object was to get a 
photograph of the young in a situation where there would be 
enough light for a snap-shot, since experience had taught me that 
it was almost hopeless to get them to remain still for any time. 
As this nest is placed so that the morning sun shines into it, | 
felt sure that with good fortune I ought to succeed. The nest is 
on a shelf of rock in a crag about 50 ft. immediately above a pool 
of water and can be literally walked into by the most timid 
of climbers and in consequence is exposed to constant risk both of 
being harried and disturbed. On reaching it I found it empty 
but next moment I detected the two young Owls which had taken 
shelter from the heat of the sun’s rays, in the midst of a bush 
of cytisus. They were fully fledged and had they been permitted 
to do so, could and would have flapped away and fallen into the 
water below. ‘To prevent this, I got my companion to sit at the 
far end of the ledge whilst I herded the two youngsters back 
into their nest. This they submitted to under protest with many 
objurgations and violent snaps of their beaks together with 
savage grabs made with their sharp talons. Finally they resumed 
their position in the nest, one remaining quiescent for a time 
whilst the other flung itself backwards and struck out furiously 
as | brought the camera to bear at close range, in which eminently 
characteristic attitude it appears on the next page. 
