62 BIOGRAPHY. 



for it. The man was riglit enough, for Waterton fonnd the 

 shot, hefore many hours had passed, and the keeper had 

 to undergo a severe cross-examination. 



Not only did he know the trees individually, and had 

 distinctive names for them, hut there was scarcely one 

 which he had not climbed and in the topmost branches 

 of which he had not sat, pursuing his favourite amuse- 

 ments of watching birds, and reading Horace or Virgil. 

 Tliere are not many men who at the age of sixty would 

 have either the power or nerve to climb a tall tree, but 

 Waterton retained his powers of tree-climbing until his 

 death, and very shortly before his fatal accident had 

 ascended one of the largest trees in the park, he being 

 then in his eighty-third year. 



Such a spot for study may seem a remarkable one, but 

 Waterton was never affected by heights, and the man 

 who had scrambled up the cross of St. Peter's at Eome, 

 climbed the lightning conductor, and stood with one foot 

 on the head of the colossal angel of St. Angelo, was not 

 likely to be made giddy by the view from the top of an 

 oak-tree. 



In part of his autobiography, Waterton mentions that 

 he climbed to the top of the conductor, and left his glove 

 on it, but he does not tell the sequel of the story. 



All Eome rang with the exploit, which reached the ears 

 of the Pope, Pius VII. Knowing that the glove would 

 spoil the conductor, he ordered it to be removed at once. 

 Not a man could be found in Eome whose nerves were 

 equal to such a task, and so Waterton had to repeat the 

 ascent and fetch his glove down again, to the amusement 

 of his friends, and the delight of the populace. 



No one could have given the advice in tree-climbing 

 which is quoted on page 50, without having experienced 

 the comparative strength of the different trees. Perhaps 



