. My life among the wild birds in Spain . e limestone had become riven and loosened and causedsome anxiety for those climbing below us. We soon found our-selves on the same steeply shelving terrace as the year before andproceeded to carry out the same plan for the descent. Securingthe centre of my 300 feet of rope to a crag, I once again laid oneportion down to the olive tree. Warned by the previous yearsexperiences I was extra careful in seeing to the lead of my ownrope and to the dislodging of loose rocks and stones, and fortunatewas it that I did so, for we found the whole ledge of the clif


. My life among the wild birds in Spain . e limestone had become riven and loosened and causedsome anxiety for those climbing below us. We soon found our-selves on the same steeply shelving terrace as the year before andproceeded to carry out the same plan for the descent. Securingthe centre of my 300 feet of rope to a crag, I once again laid oneportion down to the olive tree. Warned by the previous yearsexperiences I was extra careful in seeing to the lead of my ownrope and to the dislodging of loose rocks and stones, and fortunatewas it that I did so, for we found the whole ledge of the cliff in astate of disintegration, more so than the year before owingf to therecent heavy rains. Finally, I cleared a reasonably safe passageand was lowered down to the olive tree ; here I led my life-line asbefore round it and, easing it, got my weight on the lowering-lineand gave the fateful signal. As I dropped over the edge andscraped down along the slippery and wet surface of the cliff, I 1 See also General View of Cliff at end of Mil 111 ARMD Mil. \ \ Find a Young Vulture in Nest 441 confess to experiencing ;i perfect agony of hopes and fears. Wasthe nest tenanted or not ? Arrived at the overhanging era1 Ihauled myself inwards and as 1 came opposite the nest looked inand saw nothing in if. It was the same huge structure of sticks as of the previous yearamply lined with richly coloured brown sheeps wool and instant 1 detected not lour feet from me and flattened downamid the brown wool a big young bird of colour identical withthe nest, squatting motionless with head and beak resting on thethick masses of wo 1] in front of it. The revulsion was indescribable! Swinging myself into thenest, 1 signalled for more rope and crawled into the cavern, whichwas an awkward cramped place, as will be seen. Although at the entrance the cavern was six feet high, the 1 olshelved downwards until at the back it was not two feet above thenest. The total depth of it was about


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidmylifeam, booksubjectbirds