( U7 ) 



A CLIFF ADVENTURE. 



When I was a boy, my brother and I used to be 

 expert cragsmen — if I may use the term. Few things 

 gave us more pleasure than to scale all the steep pre- 

 cipices, of which there was no lack in our neighbour- 

 hood. These precipices ranged from one hundred to 

 four hundred feet in height. We were never troubled 

 with giddiness, and boy-like in such a pastime did not 

 know what fear meant. I daresay if there had been 

 nothing whatever to procure, the " danger's self " would 

 have been "lure alone." Dangerous it certainly was, 

 and many a narrow escape we had. I shudder now 

 at the thought of the places in which we ventured. 

 I have often since these far-away days looked at some 

 of these places, and wondered at our foolhardiness, and 

 I would not for any consideration now attempt to 

 repeat some of our escapades. But to add zest to the 

 thing, there were multitudes of birds' nests in those 

 precipices — hawks, gulls, kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins, 

 cormorants, and many others. We made a fine collec- 

 tion of eggs; and any that we might obtain beyond 

 our own requirements, we could always exchange with 

 friends or dealers for others not procurable in our part 

 of the country. Moreover, many of the commonest 



