THE MODERN ART OF BIRDSNESTING 289 



necessarily an impressionist picture, but one of great 

 interest and obvious truth, of the attack made by 

 the old birds on a pair of collie dogs which ac- 

 companied a shepherd to the top of the cliff, not 

 many feet above the eyrie. The eagles look heavy 

 and 'Jumpy,' just as they do in some of the old 

 Greek sculptures of eagles carrying prey, striking 

 awkwardly, with the feet brought under and forward, 

 like a game-cock spurring. The snarling, snapping 

 dogs are also admirably drawn. Nesting sea birds 

 and wild ducks have always been favourite subjects 

 with photographers, from their tameness and stillness 

 when sitting. But no more interesting scene has 

 ever been represented than that of the gannets' nests 

 on a ledge on Ailsa Craig, photographed in the 

 clear light at four o'clock in the morning of an early 

 summer day. The adventure had its dangers, and 

 the story of the picture is typical of the difficulties, 

 as well as of the success, of this new form of birds- 

 nesting. ' In getting down to the edge of the cliff,' 

 writes Mr R. Kearton, ' my brother placed too much 

 dependence upon the stability of a large slab of 

 rock, which commenced to slither down the terribly 

 steep hillside at a great pace directly it received his 

 additional weight. He narrowly managed to save 

 himself and the camera, with which he was en- 

 cumbered at the time, from being shot over the lip 



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