38 WILD LIFE AT HOME. 



opposite side, but running right round to the front 

 of the bold mass. This ledge had a sharp slope 

 downwards, and was rendered additionally danger- 

 ous in one place by part of the crag above it 

 jutting out in such a way as to make the path 

 very narrow. Upon walking along it and round 

 to the front I discovered a number of common 

 guillemots sitting on a ledge, and at once went 

 back to apprise the photographer, who was re 

 charging his dark slides with plates. He at once 

 started round with his camera, and I be^an to ex- 



o 



amine some nests in a crevice which ran almost 

 through the promontory. All at once I heard such 

 cries of distress as perfectly terrified me I was 

 sure that my brother had slipped off the ledge and 

 lay badly mangled on the rough rocks below, and 

 rushed round in a great state of alarm to find him 

 standing with a shag, which he had caught on her 

 nest, in his hand. Upon my approach the affrighted 

 creature snapped at my left hand like a dog, and 

 cut the back of it with her sharp- edged upper 

 mandible so deeply that the blood trickled off my 

 finger-tips, yet I was too much relieved ',o feel 

 angry with her. 



In climbing about rocks without ropes great 

 care should always be taken where water oozes out 

 and runs across a ledge, because it is sure to make 

 it slippery. On no account is it wise to attempt 

 to show off one's agility on cliffs. I knew a young 

 fellow who did this, with the result that when ho 



