264 
BIRD-CATCHING. 
by the adventurer himself, standing at the edge : 
when, giving the middle of the rope to a single 
man, he descends, always holding by one part of the 
rope, as he lets himself down by the other, and sup- 
ported from falling only by the man above, who has 
no part of the rope fastened to him, but holds it 
merely in his hands, and sometimes supports his 
comrade by one hand alone, looking at the same time 
over the precipice, without any stay for his feet, and 
conversing with the other, as he descends to a depth 
of nearly four hundred feet. A bird-catcher, on 
finding himself amongst the Fulmars nests, took four, 
and with two in each hand, contrived, nevertheless, 
to hold the rope as he ascended ; and, striking his 
foot against the rock, threw himself out from the 
face of the precipice, and returning with a bound, 
would again fly Out, capering and shouting, and 
playing all sorts of tricks. Frightful as such a dis- 
play must be to those unaccustomed to it, accidents 
are extremely rare : and the St. Kildians seem to 
think the possibility of a fatal termination to these 
exploits almost out of the question. 
It is, indeed, astonishing to what a degree habit 
and practice, with steady nerves, may remove danger. 
From the island of the South Stack above mentioned, 
boys may be seen frequently scrambling by them- 
selves, or held on by an urchin or two of their own 
age, letting themselves down the picturesque preci- 
pice opposite the island, by a piece of rope so slender, 
and apparently rotten, that the wonder is why it 
does not snap at the first strain. Yet, without a 
particle of fear, heedless of consequences, they will 
swing themselves to a ledge barely wide enough to 
