ould meet each other in
the middle of the piece. Then would be witnessed a singular scene, as
the birds dragged one another over the ground, each trying to make the
other disgorge his filthy morsel! The young hunters, amused by these
curious episodes, agreed to remain and watch them for awhile; and with
this intent they dismounted from their horses, so as to relieve the
animals of their weight.

A new object of interest now presented itself to their attention.
Francois discovered it. Francois had been directing his eyes upward,
watching the graceful motions of such of the vultures as were still in
the air. All at once he was heard to exclaim,--

"A _white_ buzzard! a _white_ buzzard!"

Lucien and Basil saw that Francois pointed to the sky overhead. They
raised their eyes in that direction. There, sure enough, was a _white
bird_; but of what species neither of them could make out. It was
flying at a vast elevation--higher, apparently, than any of the
buzzards; but even at that great height it appeared larger than any of
them. Like them, it seemed to sail about with great ease, as if the sky
was its natural home.

When first observed, it appeared about as large as a gull; and the boys
might have taken it for one--not knowing any other _white_ bird likely
to be flying about at such a height--but as there were several buzzards
near it, and evidently _below_ it, and as these looked no bigger than
swallows, what must be its size? It was not only bigger than a buzzard,
but, at least, three times the size of any one of them. Thus calculated
Lucien, and his calculation was not far from the truth.

The strange bird then could be no gull. What was it? A swan? No. Its
mode of flight answered that question at once. It bore no resemblance
whatever to the short rapid flapping of the swan, nor to the flight of
any water-bird. Was it a pelican? or perhaps a white ibis (_Tantalus
alba_)? or the white egret heron (_Ardea egretta_)? No; it was none of
these. The slow laborious flight of these great wading birds would have
been at once recognised by any of the boys, who were accustomed to see
them often hovering over the bayous of Louisiana. But this bird flew
differently from any of these. It used its wings more after the manner
of the buzzards themselves or the black vultures; but as the boys could
think of no _white_ bird of similar flight, they were puzzled as to what
it might be. Its size and mode of flying wo