rve. It was a beautiful sight, and the young hunters
stood gazing with silent admiration.

Basil and Francois wondered that he did not at once pounce upon the
snake, for towards it his flight was evidently tending. They had seen
other hawks do this--such as the red-tailed, the peregrine, and the
osprey--which last sometimes shoots several hundred feet perpendicularly
down upon its prey. Lucien, however, knew better. He knew that that
feat can be performed only by those hawks whose tails are full and not
forked, as the bald eagle, and the species already named--their
spreading tails giving them the power to suddenly arrest the downward
motion, and prevent them from dashing themselves against the earth. The
kites, on the other hand, have not that power; and in this arrangement
Lucien could perceive a beautiful adaptation of Nature--an equalising of
advantages between these two kinds of birds. He reasoned thus:--

The hawks, although swift of wing, and capable of extended flight,
cannot remain long in the air. They grow weary and need rest, which
they take, perching themselves upon some tree. It may be observed,
moreover, that they choose dead trees that overlook an open space. They
do so, in order that the leaves may not obstruct their vision--thus
giving them a wider range, and, consequently, a better chance of espying
their prey. But even with this advantage their chances of seeing their
prey are circumscribed, when compared with that of hawks upon the wing;
and they are frequently compelled to take to the air in order to
discover it.

Now the kites are always in the air, or nearly so. They, in fact, _live
upon the wing_, eating their food as they fly, from their claws. Living
thus, they have many more chances of _seeing_ their prey than their
cousins of the hawk species; and were they possessed of the power to
_pounce_ upon it with as much certainty as the latter do, it is evident
they would have greatly the advantage. The want of that capability,
however, brings them upon an equality; and, as I have said, Lucien
perceived in this that peculiar equilibrium, or "balance of power,"
which constantly presents itself to the student of Nature.

These thoughts passed through his mind at the moment. They occupied but
a moment however--for it was but a few seconds from the time the kite
was first noticed wheeling high in the air, until he swept along the
tops of the low trees, so close that the boys could disti