448 The Bearded Vulture 
the birds were nesting not far off, for soon we saw one of them 
on the wing and it was tolerably certain that its mate was 
sitting. A careful inspection of the two nests with a telescope 
showed that No. 1, the first we had visited in 1906, was in 
occupation whereas No. 2, that of 1907, was obviously in a state 
of disrepair and untenanted. After firing several pistol shots, in 
the hope of causing the old bird, if in the nest, to show herself, 
I sent one of my party up to the terrace 200 ft. above us. It was 
not until he had twice fired my pistol close under the nest and 
not 20 yards from it that our suspense was relieved by seeing 
the old bird suddenly raise her head and look out. Eventually she 
left the nest and gave us a splendid view of her as she swept 
overhead in the brilliant sunshine. We lost no time in ascending 
the talus and steep chasm and on reaching the summit 550 ft. above 
the spot where our mules were picketed halted to recover our wind. 
It was one of those peculiarly glorious days of early spring in 
southern Spain and the view from our position was magnifi- 
cent, causing us to pause for some time before setting to work. 
So clear was the atmosphere that we could distinguish the gleam- 
ing waters of the Atlantic near Cape Trafalgar over 50 miles 
distant whilst northward the great plains of the Guadalete and 
Guadalquivir, dotted with white towns here and there, extended 
like another ocean, some 4,000 ft. below us. 
We now left the summit and worked our way carefully down 
the steep slippery slopes towards the edge of the big cliff. During 
this operation one of my party (not a sailor) found the height more 
trying than he had expected and we left him behind. This was 
truly unfortunate as it materially weakened the man-power upon 
which my calculations were based. The old adage that misfortunes 
never come singly was well borne out in the subsequent opera- 
tions. Amid the wild desolation of jagged crags and steep 
slippery slopes which were wreathed in snow when | had visited 
