718 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



parts which are never climbed, and in these places the birds 

 hatch out their first eggs without interference, and so a 

 constant supply of young blood is ensured. The climbers 

 say the Guillemot does not lay until the second year, their 

 reasons for this assertion being based on the observations 

 made with reference to fallowed spots which, if rested for one 

 year, do not improve, but in two years the young birds have 

 matured, and add their eggs to the general stock. 



Accidents during the pursuit of egg-climbing rarely occur : 

 one or two instances are known of the men having been 

 damaged by pieces of falling rock, and this happened to 

 Fox, whose arm was broken ; also to old Londesborough 

 and William Wilkinson, each of whom had an arm severely 

 torn. A few years ago I was present when two of the men 

 narrowly escaped shocking deaths ; I had requested the 

 " dimmer " to procure me some Kittiwake's eggs, and he 

 commenced his descent at a place where there were no foot 

 holes for the lowerer, who, to my horror, began to slide towards 

 the edge, being dragged by the weight of the man below ; 

 the other two top men were some distance away ; I was on 

 a point of the cliff a hundred yards off, and it seemed as 

 though nothing could avert a frightful catastrophe, when, 

 fortunately, Mr. John Morley, a Scarborough naturalist, 

 who chanced to be near, rushed to the rescue and clasped 

 the man by the shoulders, holding him until assistance arrived. 

 The " dimmer " has since told me he knew perfectly well 

 what had happened " top o* cliff," and he had just reached 

 a ledge where he could stand when the sickening sensation 

 of falling stopped. Visitors are sometimes allowed to make 

 the descent of the cliffs, and, if space had permitted, many 

 amusing stories might be related in connection with their 

 experiences. I have been told by a quondam climber that, 

 when he was assisting his father, who used to climb at Flam- 

 borough, in the " seventies," soon after the Franco-German 

 war, they received a visit from three foreign gentlemen 

 staying at the Thornwick Hotel, the youngest of whom 

 requested to be allowed to take some eggs ; he was accordingly 

 lowered, and succeeded in bringing up five specimens, with 



