First Expedition, 1906 417 
I subsequently watched it wing its way across a great valley, 
over a thousand feet deep, to some crags on the opposite side 
where | have little doubt it was nesting. But at the time I was 
too crippled to follow it up and thus lost one of the chances of 
my life. 
My final success after protracted efforts to obtain the eggs and 
photograph the nest of the Bearded Vulture is one of the most 
memorable epochs in my life, necessitating as it did five separate 
expeditions to a remote spot in three successive years and, what 
is more to the point, very nearly involving me in disaster on three 
of these. 
It was in the spring of 1906 that after four years persistent 
search and many expeditions, during which I repeatedly located 
Bearded Vultures and visited various nesting places without result, 
that at last it seemed as if success lay within my grasp. A pair 
were known to nest in a certain big cliff only two days journey 
from civilization and accordingly I arranged for a four days trip 
and enlisted the services of three friends as assistants. 
One of the greatest difficulties to be faced in expeditions into 
the higher ranges of the sierra is the vicissitudes of weather. It 
may often happen, especially during the winter months, that at 
the time those living near the sea level or a few hundreds of feet 
above it are enjoying splendid weather, the sierras may _ be 
shrouded in dense cloud-banks, making all bird watching an 
absolute impossibility. Further, heavy rainstorms may serve to 
fill the gullies with raging torrents and make all travel equally 
out of the question. Such has been my fate repeatedly. 
At the first attempt on the Bearded Vulture’s cliff we were 
favoured by fairly good weather, as regards the absence of fog 
and rain, but we came in for a desperately cold snap and suffered 
accordingly. On the second day of our journey we arrived at our 
objective a good hour before midday and halted for luncheon. Very 
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