CHAP. x. LOVE OF BIRD-NESTING. 195 



he could not, we think, have escaped public notice so long, 

 having resided in this town for a period of sixteen years, dur- 

 ing which time he has borne an unimpeachable character. 



" JAMES DUFF, J.P., 

 " BANFF, March 1850." ^ &c - &c - 



Edward was now in the prime of life, yet he 

 was drawing very heavily upon his constitutional 

 powers. Sleeping out of doors nightly, whether the 

 weather was fair or foul, subjected him to many 

 attacks of cold and rheumatism. Yet he had no sooner 

 recovered, than he was out again at his nightly work. 

 He was still as wild a bird-nester as he had ever 

 been in his youth. He would go to any distance or 

 to any place, to find a bird or a bird's nest that was 

 new to him. He would run up a tree like a squirrel, 

 and come down again with the birds or the nest. 



He would also walk or climb up a precipice 

 when a nest was to be had. Of course he had many 

 falls. But what of that, if the object was gained? 

 The most dangerous fall that he ever had was at 

 Tarlair. The circumstance may be described, as a 

 specimen of the dangers which Edward ran in his 

 pursuit of Natural History. The author went to see 

 the place, and was afraid to look down into the 

 chasm amongst the rocks into which the Naturalist 

 had fallen. 



The little valley of Tarlair is about three miles east 

 of Banff. It is not far from Macduff. The road to 

 Tarlair is along the bare bluff coast ; and when you 



