144 HILLSIDE, ROCK, AND DALE 



Goerz lens. It speaks well for the maker of the camera, 

 for I am certain no other ever had such a long and 

 rough journey to arrive at the end' safe and sound. A 

 few inches farther to the right or left, or if it had only 

 made a bigger bound when it passed out of our view, 

 it would have meant certain destruction, and the 

 pictures illustrating this chapter could not have been 

 taken. My camera has had some remarkable escapes 

 in its time, but its preservation on this occasion 

 surpasses all its other wild adventures. 



During the five days which I spent in the ravens' 

 haunt I had good opportunities of seeing many pairs 

 of birds ; in a radius of thirty miles we found four 

 nests containing eggs. One of these meant a stiff 

 climb, but the others were not difficult to reach, 

 although to get to these we had to climb three 

 hundred feet or thereabouts on treacherous, slaty 

 cliffs, where a false step, or a slip in places, would 

 mean almost certain death. We were half-way up 

 one hillside when a raven left her nest and circled 

 round above, joined by her mate, the latter for some 

 reason being very angry. He gave vent to his 

 feelings on a flock of jackdaws which rose near. He 

 picked one bird out of the flock, chased it, twisting 

 and turning in his flight, and almost succeeded in 

 striking it. Being foiled, he made one or two grand, 

 rushing swoops, and then turned at right angles and 

 swept down like a bullet on another terrified jackdaw ; 



