BEHIND THE VEIL IN BIRDLAND 



we found ourselves under the shelter of the towering cliff. There 

 was a great swell rising and falling around the rock, and it was 

 a difficult task to land. Taking off our boots, we just had to 

 trust to chance, and jump from the rising and falling boat on 

 to the slippery seaweed-covered sides. Then the cameras were 

 fastened on a running noose and pulled along a rope which was 

 fixed from the boat to the cliff, and three of us roped together, 

 two hardy St. Kildans and myself, began the ascent. 



Without the cameras we should have got on fairly well, but 

 with my ' Birdland ' camera and kinematograph it was no easy 

 task, and several times we had to haul the apparatus up places 

 where it was impossible to carry it. In other parts we had to 

 pick our way through thick lanes of struggling and frightened 

 young Guillemots and Razorbills, but at last the summit was 

 reached and we were amongst a vast flock of Gannets, which, 

 when they saw us, went tumbling and falling over one another in 

 their eagerness to reach the edge of the precipice for the Gannet 

 cannot fly from a level surface. The Gannet in my picture, when 

 photographed, was sitting on the topmost point of this famous 

 rock, and when I attempted to stand in the same position, the 

 bold bird made frantic dabs at my legs with her great beak, and at 

 last flew directly at me, and with her strong wings nearly sent me 

 speeding down towards the sea. 



94 



