CHAPTER II. 



PHOTOGRAPHING IX CLIFFS AND TREES, AND FROM 

 BOATS. 



THE photographing of many natural-history objects 

 in situ necessitates gymnastic work of no mean 

 order, and requires a cool head and strong physical 

 qualities wherewith to accomplish it successfully. 

 Eagles, falcons, ravens, and hooded crows breed in 

 places so difficult of access from a photographic 

 point of view, that it is impossible to reach their 

 nests except by the aid of climbing-ropes. How- 

 ever, under ordinary circumstances cliff descending 

 is much safer than Alpine climbing, and furnishes 

 its dizzying sensations without involving so much 

 travelling expense and fatigue. 



We use two Manilla-hemp ropes, each two 

 hundred feet in length, and an inch and a half 

 and two inches in circumference respectively. The 

 thicker or descending rope has three loops at the 

 end for donning round the photographer's hips, 

 and forming a sling, in which he virtually sits 

 when making a descent. 



When after a nest in a cliff, the first thing 

 necessary is to find out the precise place at which 

 it is situated, by frightening off its owner. Some 



