196 FOREST CREATURES. 



of bones and skeletons spread out on the nest, which 

 was alive with all sorts of vermin. It was a veritable 

 carrion pit, horrid and disgusting. The question, how- 

 ever, was to get possession of this future despoiler, 

 I dared not clamber on to the nest, even could I have 

 done so ; for I then should have been unable to reach 

 the topmost round of the ladder in getting down again; 

 consequently I should have been obliged to remain in 

 the eyrie a few days and nights, perhaps, till aid might 

 be brought me ; which, after a.11, was a very questionable 

 matter. So I pulled a long thin stick out of the nest, 

 and wdth it poked the young bird. As I expected, he 

 found this poking not at all to his taste, and furiously 

 seized the stick with his talons. Drawing the stick 

 quickly towards me, with my right hand I laid hold of 

 him by the back. But the question was how to bind 

 the animal, defending himself as he was with all his 

 might with his claws ? I had brought a thong with me 

 for the purpose, which I carried in my mouth in coming 

 up the ladder, well foreseeing that my position would 

 not allow me to get it first out of my pocket. But he 

 grasped the stick so firmly that I could not make him 

 loose his hold. My left arm was beginning to grow 

 fatigued. "If," thought I, "I could only manage to 

 get the assistance of the thumb and forefinger of my 

 left hand!" But to get the forefinger at liberty, which 

 with the other fingers alone supported me, — to get it 



