Locating Eagles’ Nests 309 
unexpected difficulties which present themselves, one after the 
other, as if to debar him from accomplishing his object! 
The mere fact of watching Eagles enter cliffs, either singly 
or in pairs, is a long way from ultimate success in finding their 
5D 
nests. Owing to their habit of resorting to alternative sites, it not 
unfrequently happens that a pair which may be meditating nesting 
play around various old nests with aggravating: uncertainty. Even 
after they have come to a decision to repair and re-line one of 
the nests of former years, they have a way of resorting to some 
of the other sites and flying in and out of them in a most deceptive 
manner. 
The tyro after seeing the birds thus enter a nest is ever anxious 
to go to it at once. Such haste is, as a rule, prolific of disappoint- 
ment. But even when a nest has been undoubtedly fixed and 
the fact that it contains eggs has been reasonably assured, the 
final successful approach to it from above is by no means a matter 
of course. Often it is the work of a whole day to attain the top 
of the cliff above the Eagle’s eyrie and only those who have 
frequently gone through this seemingly simple operation and have 
experienced the repeated failures which so often attend it can 
appreciate the vast difference between seeing a nest from below 
a cliff and trying to place oneself exactly above it, possibly many 
hours later on. As often as not, the configuration of the crestline 
prevents a near approach to the edge and it may be necessary 
to make several tentative descents in a bowline to peer over and 
endeavour to fix the desired spot; and how very unpleasant this 
process is at times! and how much worse it seems to become, the 
more you look at it! 
But in such a case, as in all wild sport and adventure, the very 
difficulties add zest to the enterprize and what unspeakable joy it 
is to the unrepentent birdsnester when after a series of awkward 
adventures he finds himself at last right in to the coveted nest! 
And to the naturalist how intensely fascinating is such a moment, 
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