98 PHOTOGRAPHY FOE BIRD-LOVERS. 

 goes down this, preparatory to disappearing over 

 the edge, he should scrutinize every inch of his 

 path and try with his foot every doubtful point 

 over which the rope will pass, for it is here, and 

 not in the breaking of the rope, that the commonest 

 source of danger lies. Every loose stone and pebble 

 must be removed, and when the edge has been 

 passed the same caution must be used on the cliff- 

 face, every movable rock or sod being dislodged 

 before it is passed and either dropped beneath, or, 

 if there is cause for silence, placed well to one side 

 of the path of the lowering rope, in which nothing 

 movable can be tolerated. Although an expert 

 climber may appear to attend to these matters 

 very quickly and mechanically, it is probable that 

 the greater is his experience the more careful will 

 he really be in their observance, for it is astonishing 

 how small a pebble will do damage to either the 

 man or the camera after it has fallen say some 

 fifty or sixty feet. Despite the utmost care, small 

 stones will now and then be loosened as the rope is 

 paid out or, more particularly, hauled up, and since 

 one is by the nature of things precisely in the 

 path of their descent, they too often find temporary 

 lodgment against one's person. A stiff, wide- 

 brimmed hat, the crown being well stuffed with 

 grass, affords some shelter against the lesser 

 missiles, but against falling stones of any consider- 



