EGG-HUNTING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19255, 20 August 1924, Page 5

EGG-HUNTING.

B.VNGiEROUS BUT PROFITABLE WORK. Visitors to the Flam borough district in Juno each year may see an interesting spectacle, fer tbe egg-hunters are a,t work, states n correspondent of tlic Manchester Guardian. Hanging by a stout rope 200 ft. below th© top of a steep cliff, th - egg-hunter nimbly swings from ledge to ledge collecting seabirds’ eggs. Kitliwako, puffin, razorbill, and guillemot nest here in thousands, and their eggs are greatly prized, sometimes for their wonderful markings, and always for their special flavour. The season for collecting starts in May and goes on until late in June. Usually the egg-hunters work in fours. The climber takes the largest share of profits, for the dangerous work is his. Thein outfit consists of a leather saddle, fastened round tbe climber's legs and waist, to which the rope by which he is let down is fastened. A second man wearing a stout leather belt, sits on the cliff, and with the climbing rope passed round his belt, acts as a human windlass. The other two men help in, hauling up and lowering their mate. A guide rope, lowered before the climber goes oven, helps him to preserve his balance and provides a means of signalling. It is » wonderful sight to see a climber kicking off from ledge to lodge, fending himself off from the projecting rocks, and dodging hits of cliff that have been loosened in the climb. Sometimes these falling rocks will strike the climber’s head, hut as he is protected with an old helmet stuffed with straw, it is seldom that he is hurt. It is dangerous but profitable work, and provides a livelihood for quite a number of men on the Yorkshire coast.