124 A RAMBLE TO BRANDY COVE. 



therefore did not flinch, though the impetus with 

 which he came would doubtless have made a blow 

 from his sharp strong beak fatal. In all probability 

 his domestic economy, his mate on her weedy nest of 

 three eggs, was placed on a ledge not far from the 

 spot where I was standing. After a while the birds 

 began to disappear, some behind the promontories 

 that bounded the view, some on the sides of the more 

 distant headlands, and some about the cliffy walls of 

 the cove itself, yet ready to take to the air again on 

 the least alarm. 



I wanted much to get down to the beach, but 

 searched in vain for any accessible mode. The only 

 means that seemed possible was a fissure, down which 

 a little stream dribbled. It was in many places only 

 just wide enough to allow me to squeeze through, 

 was very rough and full of slaty debris, treacherously 

 slippery to the feet. There was, however, a good deal 

 of long grass, and I thought I could not fall far at a 

 time if I missed my footing, and so attempted it. It 

 was laborious enough ; but by sliding in some parts, 

 working with knees and elbows, chimney-sweep fashion, 

 in others, cutting away the soft slate with my clasp- 

 knife, and similar manoeuvres, I managed to reach 

 within eight or ten feet of the bottom. There it be- 

 came quite perpendicular : I could easily slip down, 

 but how get up again ? There was no other way out of 

 the cove, and the tide was coming in. I was reluctant 

 to lose my labour ; and besides wished to see if the 

 exposed rocks would afford me any new zoophytes. 



