WHIPPED BY EAGLES 39 



it grew in years and in height, probably because at the 

 bottom the building materials had decayed and grad- 

 ually fallen away, until now there was a decided 

 outward slant from bottom to top. It had grown lop- 

 sided, too, there being a big bulge on one side of 

 the nest near the middle. 



The smalluess of the bottom at first helped me ; 

 there was less of the stuff to be pulled out. I easily 

 broke away the dead timbers and pushed aside the 

 tougher sticks. I intended to cut a channel clear to 

 the top and go up through the nest. Already my 

 head and shoulders were well into it. 



Now the work became more difficult. The sticks 

 were newer, some of them being of seasoned oak and 

 hickory, which the birds had taken from cord-wood 

 piles. 



I had cut my channel up the side of the nest nearly 

 halfway when I came to a forked branch that I could 

 neither break off nor push aside. I soon found that 

 it was not loose, but that it belonged to the oak tree 

 itself. It ran out through the nest horizontally, ex- 

 tending a little more than a foot beyond the rough 

 walls. 



Backing down, I saw that this fork was tlie support 

 of the bulge that had given the nest its lopsided 

 appearance. A few large timbers had been rested 

 across it, small loose pieces had gradually lodged 

 upon these, and thus in time brought about the big 

 bulge. 



