sickly shivering creep over him, accompanied with a certainty that he was about to faint the inevitable consequence of which, he had sense enough left to know, would be the certain death of the boy, and, in all probability, of himself, as in the act of fainting it was most likely he would fall forward, and follow the rope and boy down the precipice. In this dilemma, he uttered a loud, despairing scream, which was fortunately heard by a woman working in an adjoining field, who, running up, was just in time to catch the rope, as the fainting man fell senseless at her feet. We shall add two more equally hazardous, and one fatal. Many bird-catchers go on these expeditions without any companion to hold the rope or assist them. It was on such a solitary excursion, that a man, having fastened his rope to a stake on the top, let himself down far below; and, in his ardour for collecting birds and eggs, followed the course of a ledge, beneath a mass of overhanging rock: unfortunately he had omitted to take the usual precaution of tying the rope round his body, but held it carelessly in his hand; when, in a luckless moment, as he was busily engaged in pillaging a nest, it slipped from his grasp, and after swinging backwards and forwards three or four times, without coming within reach, at last became stationary over the ledge of the projecting rock, leaving the bird-catcher apparently without a chance of escape -for to ascend the precipice without a rope was impossible, and none were near to hear his cries, or afford him help. What was to be done? Death stared him in the face. After a few minutes' pause, he made up his mind. By a desperate leap he might regain the rope, but if he failed, and, at the distance at which it hung, the chances were against him, his fate was certain, amidst the pointed crags ready to receive him, over which the waves were dashing far, far below. Collecting, therefore, all his strength, with outstretched arms, he sprang from the rock, and lived to tell the tale-for the rope was caught! The next occurred at St. Kilda, where, amongst other modes of catching the sea-fowl, that of setting gins or nooses is adopted. They are fixed in various places frequented by the birds. In one of these, set upon a ledge, a hundred and twenty feet above the sea, a bird-catcher entangled his foot, and not being at the moment aware of it, was, on moving onwards, tripped up, and precipitated over the rock, where he hung suspended. He, too, as in the preceding case, had no companion; and, to add to his misfortune, darkness was at hand, leaving little prospect of his being discovered before morning. In vain he exerted himself to bend upwards, so as to reach the noose or grapple the rock. After a few fruitless efforts, his strength was exhausted, and in this dreadful situation, expecting, moreover, that the noose might give way every instant, did he pass a long night. At early dawn, by good fortune, his shouts were heard by a neighbour, who rescued him from his perilous suspension.* * BUCHANAN's Hebrides. The last we shall relate terminated in a more awful manner. A father and two sons went out together, and, having firmly attached their rope at the summit of a precipice, descended, on their usual occupation. Having collected as many birds and eggs as they could carry, they were all three ascending by the rope the eldest of the sons first, his brother a fathom or two below him, and the father following last. They had made considerable progress, when the elder son, looking upwards, perceived the strands of the rope grinding against a sharp edge of rock, and gradually giving way. He immediately reported the alarming fact. "Will it hold together till we can gain the summit?" asked the father. "It will not hold another minute," was the reply; "our triple weight is loosening it rapidly!" "Will it hold one?" said the father. "It is as much as it can do," replied the son,- even that is but doubtful." "There is then a chance at least of one of us being saved; draw your knife and cut away below!" was the cool and intrepid order of the parent. "Exert yourself—you may yet escape, and live to comfort your mother!" There was no time for discussion or further hesitation. The son looked up once more, but the edge of rock was cutting its way, and the rope had nearly severed. The knife was drawn -the rope was divided-and his father and brother were launched into eternity! INDEX. AFFECTIONATE disposition of the Ostrich, Age of Goldfinches, 216 Air-cells in birds, use of, 34, 52-54 Albatross lives almost always on the wing, Carrier Pigeon, its rapid flight, and how Cat and Pigeon, anecdote of, 365 Certhia, or Tree-creeper, 257 American, South, Goat-sucker, described, Chavana Fidele, capacity for filling itself 89, 384 with air, 53 Children, instances of, carried off by Eagles, 95 Chinese management of Ducks, 352; Cor- Chough, or Red-legged Crow, 201 Attachment of birds to men and animals, Cinereous Crow, depredations of the, 203 Bell-bird, 58 Classification, Tables of, 9 Claw of the Goat-sucker, why toothed, 253; serrated, of the Heron, 307 Cock, barn-door, courage of, 276 Cold, capacity of birds for enduring severe, 47 Condor, contest with a man, г14 Benefits derived from Rooks, 194; and in- Colour of plumage, changes in, 66 Consumption of food by small birds, 225, 226 Bird-catching in Shetland and St. Kilda, Coots, nest of, 301 Breeding-Pheasant with Poultry, 279 Bullfinches, how taught to pipe, 218 Burrowing Owl described, 156 Cormorants, habits of, 370, 371; trained as Corn-crake, 305; found dormant, 240 Courage of Swallows, 246 Crows, 187; harassing the Gulls at the South Bustards taken by Hawks, 120; courage of Cuckoos, 263; Golden, 25; fed by a Thrush, the, 278; pouch of the, 290 Butcher-bird, habits of the, 158 CANADA Geese, 340, 344 Canaries, history of, and trade in, 217 Cancroma, or Boat-bill, 316 170 Cultrirostral, cutting-billed birds, 307 DANGEROUS instinct of Herons and Bit- Dardanelles, incessant flight of a species of Geese, rearing of, profitable, 335; manage- Petrel on the, 79 FALCON, Iceland, valuable, 121 ment of them in Lincolnshire, 335; sacred Gigantic Crane, or Hurgila, 312 Goldfinches, anecdote of, 213; sagacity of, Grebe, 398; crested, shot at Adlington, Guillemots, 401, 402 Gulls, 379; feeding on herrings, 381, 382; HARE and Hawk, contest between, 134 Hawks rearing Chickens, 141; why respected Herons taken by hawking, 126; assemblage Falconry, 122; attempted revival in Eng- Hoopoe, 255, 257, 260 Familiarity of Crows, anecdote of, 189 Fatal event to a family of Sea-fowlers, 416 Feats of Bird-catchers, 412 Finches, family of, 213 Flamingo, or Phoenicopterus, 317; singular- Hornbills, bills of, 33; general character, 173 Hospital for Cranes and Storks, 311 Hurgila, or Gigantic Crane, 312 IBIS, Sacred, 331 Imitative power of birds, 56 Injuries from Crows and Rooks, 194; and Insects, quantity devoured by Swallows, Flight, difficulties connected with, 3; of Instinct nearly allied to reason, instance in birds, 68, 73 Ducks, 365 JABIRU, 314 Fowl, singular contents of the stomach of a, Jacamars, 263 50 Jacana walks on water-plants, 305 Frigate-bird lives almost always on the Jackdaws, 201 Gannet, 53; use of its horny mask, 53; mode LAND-BIRDS found far at sea, 75 of catching, 53; nests, 375 Gastric juice, 46 Language of birds, 60 Lapwing, food of the, 322 |