422 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



week, perhaps, spent amongst these sublimities, the tiny tent 

 fixed halfway up — suspended, as it were, between the black torrent 

 and the frowning brink, "twixt upper, nether, and surrounding 

 precipices " — began to take hold of me, for it was in some cleft of 

 the heights on which we now stood that the Falcons should 

 have had their eyrie. But all was nought, visions faded and 

 high hopes were quenched very shortly, for all that the man 

 whose statement — as we imagined — had brought us here had to 

 say, after guiding us to the awful verge and leaning there 

 familiarly on his stick, was that such a pair of birds had indeed 

 nested just below that point for the last eight years, but that, 

 contrary to expectation, and for some unexplained reason, they 

 had not done so this year, that his son, when he said that 

 they had spoke only from likelihood, but had not actually 

 verified what he felt sure about ; it was foolish of him, he had 

 acted unadvisedly, he should have said nothing where there was 

 no actual certainty,* and so on — it was all the son. " Ibi omnis 

 effsuus labor." It was a sad walk back to the little, lonely 

 homestead where we had left horses and baggage— all in pour- 

 ing rain which had lately come on — to be shown what there was 

 no use in showing. When we got there, again, we were asked 

 in to coffee, but I was less struck with its excellence and the 

 hospitable ways of the country than I might have been on 

 another occasion. Though it was now 10 p.m., we started back 

 that same night, but only made a short march to a hostelry, or 

 something which served as such, where Sigurdsson slept, whilst 

 I, seeing no reason to increase travelling expenses, which are 

 not light in Iceland, had recourse to my tent. Next day, 

 towards evening, we got back to the place we had started from, 

 and thus ended the quest of the Falcons. 



Not even that the four young Falcons had been sold at ten kronen 



apiece. 



(To be continued.) 



