TWO DAYS IN THE COMERAGH MOUNTAINS. 89 
Ravens for many years. Their nest is in a niche beneath an 
arch of rock. Within this niche (which is of great size) is a 
pinnacle on which the nest rests. My 150 feet rope took me far 
enough down to see into it distinctly. It would make a large 
cartload, and is composed of crooked sticks of furze and ivy, 
green leaves of the latter adhering. It was rough within and 
without, and had no lining. Above this, in the same rock-castle, 
is a great horizontal crevice containing another old Raven’s nest 
or nests (for there are two cavities, evidently of different years, 
one to the right of the other). This mass is likewise of sticks, 
and is closely overhung by the rock which shelters it. From 
hence the Ravens could survey the slopes at the foot of the cliffs 
and the distant country with its flocks. 
We then proceeded over the top of the range (which rises to 
2597 feet) to the cliffs over Crotty’s Lake, where in May, 1882, 
I found Peregrines breeding. A long, toilsome walk over soft 
peat in a fog brought us to our destination. Crotty’s Lake lies 
in a hollow scooped out of the mountain-side by some ancient 
glacier. At some distance above it rises an amphitheatre of 
precipices, some of the loftiest in the Co. Waterford, from which 
the view extends, across the northern part of this county and the 
Suir-valley, over Kilkenny, Tipperary, and to points beyond. 
I ascended with my men by the help of the rope to the lowest 
ledge we could reach from the top of the cliff, where I placed 
them above the eyrie, the rope having first been made fast to a 
pillar stone above, and a second rope of 150 feet being added to 
the first. I then went round with the rest of the party to the 
foot of the cliff, and upon a gun being discharged the female 
Peregrine flew out with her shrill clamour, indicating the spot I 
sought. Finding that the rope could not be lowered to me, as 
ledges arrested it, I toiled round the end of the cliffs to my men 
on the top, and wishing to accomplish my work before dark, 
I descended on the rope the loftiest cliff I have attempted amid 
an increasing fog and the shades of evening. Unfortunately in 
coming down I left the eyrie to my right, my friends failing to 
direct me, for not until I was passing the eyrie did they discover 
the white fishing-basket I carried descending from the obscurity 
above. When once down my men could not lift me again. It 
now grew dark. ‘The only sound was the shrill ‘ pipe, pipe” of 
the Ring Ouzel resounding from the rocks near the lake. We 
