BIRD-CATCHING. 437 



descends, always holding by one part of the rope, as he 

 lets himself down by the other, and supported from falling 

 only by the man above, who has no part of the rope fastened 

 to him, but holds it merely in his hands, and sometimes 

 supports his comrade by one hand alone, looking at the 

 same time over the precipice, without any stay for his feet, 

 and conversing with the other, as he descends to a depth 

 of nearly four hundred feet. A bird-catcher, on finding 

 himself amongst the Fulmars' nests, took four, and with 

 two in each hand, contrived, nevertheless, to hold the rope 

 as he ascended; and, striking his foot against the rock, 

 threw himself out from the face of the precipice, and 

 returning with a bound, would again fly out, capering and 

 shouting, and playing all sorts of tricks. Frightful as such 

 a display must be to those unaccustomed to it, accidents are 

 extremely rare; and the St. Kildians seem to think the 

 possibility of a fatal termination to these exploits almost out 

 of the question. 



It is indeed astonishing to what a degree habit and 

 practice, with steady nerves, may remove danger. From the 

 island of the South Stack above mentioned, boys may be 

 seen frequently scrambling by themselves; or, held on by an 

 urchin or two of their own age, letting themselves down the 

 picturesque precipice opposite the island, by a piece of rope, 

 so slender and apparently rotten, that the wonder is why it 

 does not snap at the first strain. Yet, without a particle of 

 fear, heedless of consequences, they will swing themselves to 

 a ledge barely wide enough to admit the foot of a goat, and 

 thence pick their way with or without the rope, to pillage 

 the nest of a Gull, which, if aware of its own powers, might 

 flap them headlong to the bottom. 



Here, too, in St. Kilda, accidents are said to be of rare 

 occurrence, though of course they do occasionally happen ; 

 but escapes sufficiently appalling to make the blood run 

 cold to hear of, are common enough. 



The first we shall mention happened about two miles from 

 the South Stack, on the rocky coast of Ehoscolin. A lady, 

 living near the spot, sent a boy in search of samphire with 



