338 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



ramble along the countryside. I have a pair of 

 Dollond's, which make me envied by every sea 

 captain who has the good fortune to look through 

 them. One clear day last summer Grace Darling's 

 nephew said to me, as we stood at the foot of St. 

 Cuthbert's Tower, on the Fame, "I can see the 

 halliard rope swing from the Longstone Lighthouse 

 flagstaff [which is two miles away] with your 

 glasses, sir." I was incredulous, but this frame of 

 mind soon turned to one of astonishment when I 

 looked for myself and saw it bellying in the 

 wind. We use a powerful bulPs-eye lantern for dis- 

 covering and focussing birds on their natural roosts 

 during dark winter nights, and a small looking- 

 glass with an adjustable handle for attaching to 

 the end of a rod, or long stick, and examining 

 the interiors of such nests as are situated on 

 branches too slender to bear the weight of the 

 climber. 



Cliff photography, although really not very 

 dangerous, is at first rather trying to the nerves, 

 as I can testify from experience, having literally 

 walked backwards of course, with the ropes on- 

 over the edge of a perpendicular precipice seventy 

 feet deep, in order to be in a position to under- 

 stand and appreciate the sensations of this branch 

 of my brother's work. 



Upon reaching a cliff which we desire to 

 descend, and having located the exact position of 

 the nest to be photographed, we drive a moderate- 

 sized crowbar from twelve to eighteen inches into 

 the ground at distances varying from four or five 

 to ten or twelve feet away from its edge, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, and sloping slightly out of 

 the vertical in a backward direction. One end of 

 the guide rope is tied securely round it close to 



