246 BIRD LIFE IN WILD WALES 



that statement would, we think, on examination, be 

 found wanting. An additional nest, made by the 

 Hawks would certainly be found on the top of the 

 old structure. We have, indeed, found nests of this 

 description ; and we may here also remark that the 

 Buzzard has been known to make a nest on the top 

 of an old Crow's tenement, like his smaller confrere 

 the Sparrow-hawk. 



Now a word or two on climbing. This is, we are 

 sure, an inborn art, just as cricket and other games 

 undoubtedly are, and though any ordinary, active- 

 bodied man may make a fair cragsman and tree- 

 climber, yet he will lack all the nicer points of his 

 more skilful rival. In tree-climbing, never, if you can 

 possibly avoid it, trust to one hold, for should this 

 prove treacherous, destruction or disablement is 

 practically certain. Always remember, too (and this 

 applies equally to crags and trees), that if the ascent 

 is negotiated with difficulty, the descent will be ten 

 times more perilous. In fact, we have been in one or 

 two " tight corners " ourselves for this very reason, 

 especially on rocks. Although rotten boughs are not 

 to be recommended, yet many a decayed branch, with 

 careful manipulation, will bear a good weight, and 

 sometimes it is a case of " Hobson's choice." Weight 

 is no disadvantage in climbing if managed properly, 

 and height is a great advantage for many a time a 

 tall man will be able to ascend a tree where a short 

 one cannot, because the latter may not be able to 

 reach the next bough, and then, should the tree be 

 too thick to swarm, he has nothing left but to return 

 to whence he came. 



