Fifth and Last Expedition, 1908 447 
a few of the limbs of goats, &c., to show to my comrades, but most 
of these had rebounded from the shelf they struck on and gone 
down 150 ft. or more, a good proof of the vertical and overhanging 
nature of the cliff, for the ledge under the nest is fairly wide. 
During the whole of the time that we were engaged in the climb 
(some two and a half hours) neither of the old Bearded Vultures 
came near the nest, a marked difference from the conduct of 
Griffons in such circumstances. Soon after we rejoined our mules, 
one of the old birds returned and re-entered the nest. As I was 
anxious to get a snap-shot of her leaving, | climbed up once again 
to the point whence [| had photographed the cliff in the morning. 
As | did so, she quietly slipped off before I could get my camera 
into action. I then concealed myself for an hour in a cavern hard 
by, waiting for her return, but she was not to be deceived and | 
eventually rejoined my comrades. 
As we made our way down the mountain, both old birds were 
seen soaring over the cliff and were later on joined by a third 
bird. On our homeward road we saw another pair of Bearded 
Vultures, one of which was carrying the limb of some animal in 
its left foot. Thus ended our campaign of 1907. 
During the first week in January 1908 I made all preparations 
for a renewed attack upon the stronghold of the Bearded Vultures, 
but was delayed for over six weeks, first by continual bad weather 
and then by the difficulty of finding safe men to form a lowering 
party for what I now had good reason to know was a peculiarly 
dangerous cliff. At last 1 arranged for one under the guidance 
of “Lieutenant Gerald Hamond R.N. a son of a former comrade, 
the late Commander Robert Hamond who had been my companion 
in many of the birdsnesting expeditions near Gibraltar thirty 
years previously, described in the earlier chapters of this book. 
Favoured by splendid weather, we at length found ourselves 
on 16 February immediately below the famous cliff. Sure enough 
