PREFACE. xv 



about four o'clock in the morning on Ailsa 

 Craig, and so early in the season that the birds 

 had not settled down seriously to the business of 

 incubation ; and is of especial value and interest 

 to us on account of the adventures we encountered 

 on that " beetling crag." In getting down to the 

 edge of the cliff, my brother placed too much 

 dependence upon the stability of a large slab of 

 rock, which treacherously commenced to slither 

 down the terribly steep hill side at a great pace 

 directly it received his additional weight. He 

 narrowly managed to save himself and the camera, 

 with which he was encumbered at the time, from 

 being shot over the lip of the precipice, and sustain- 

 ing a fall of several hundred feet, into the sea below. 

 We took five photographs of the Gannet sitting 

 on her nest, each at closer range, and although 

 she was ill at ease while all this was going on, by 

 working deftly we established ourselves somewhat 

 in her confidence, and got close enough to obtain 

 the picture forming the frontispiece to this work. 

 When everything was ready, as if by the malicious 

 intervention of some unkind fate, the screw affixing 

 the camera to the tripod suddenly dropped out, and 

 the apparatus toppled over seawards. It was well on 

 its way to what the Americans describe as " ever- 

 lasting smash," when my brother, by a dexterous 

 catch, stopped it from striking a piece of rock, off 

 which it would have rebounded and finally dis- 

 appeared over the cliff. By the aid of some strong 

 feather shafts (the only materials available), we 

 managed to fix up, after a fashion, our apparatus 



