362 The Golden Eagle 
vertical, a small fissure a few feet deep ran down from the 
summit hard by where I was, and it was not difficult to guess 
that the nest was probably placed in this, at some point below, 
where there was a ledge. I had with me just 50 ft. of 2-inch 
rope and with this I was lowered some 35 ft., enough to see that 
not far below me there was a projection which overhung the face 
of the cliff lower down. Fortunately, we had also with us 180 ft. 
of 14-inch Alpine rope and so, ascending, I doubled this and 
making a bowline-on-a-bight went down again. When about 50 
ft. down, I passed on one side of the projection and sighted the 
nest immediately below it, placed in a small recess, a continuation 
of the fissure above. Ten feet lower, | got some good handhold 
which enabled me to work my way upwards from below the 
projection and reach the nest, which contained two splendidly- 
coloured eggs. The nest measured about 3 ft. across and was 
lined with fresh ilex and palmetto leaves. I had with me my 
small fixed focus camera (it was in the early days of hand-camera 
work) which could be used, at a pinch, at 7 ft. But here I was, 
only 3 ft. from the nest, which lay in dark shadow. I steadied 
myself by pressing my feet against the cliff and straightening my 
knees but it was no good, for by no possibility could I obtain 
the necessary focusing distance and, further, a time-exposure was 
out of the question, owing to the absence of any possible means 
to improvise a stand on which to rest the camera, and all the 
time there was the vibration of the rope. Of course I took a 
“snap” and equally of course it was a failure. 1 have the picture 
still, such as it is, with ghostly ill-focused rocks and its interest 
is that it records the absolutely sheer nature of the cliff and shows 
the flutings of water action on the portion of the rock behind the 
nest. Having hauled myself into the nest, I packed my eggs 
and re-ascended. During this time, the old birds, as usual, lay off 
at a distance, rarely coming into view. This nest was in one of 
