84 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
hopelessly far behind. But Store long they reached 
and passed it, and each bird as he did so would turn 
and rush downwards, striking at the Egret with his 
claws, and while one descended the others were 
rising, bird following bird with the greatest regularity. 
In this way they continued toiling upwards until the 
Egret appeared a mere white speck in the sky, about 
which the four hateful black spots were still revolv- 
ing. I had watched them from the first with the 
greatest excitement, and now began to fear that they 
would pass from sight and leave me in ignorance of 
the result; but at length they began to descend, 
and then it looked as if the Egret had lost all hope, 
for it was dropping very rapidly, while the four birds 
were all close to it, striking at it every three or four 
seconds, The descent for the last half of the distance 
was exceedingly rapid, and the birds would have 
come down almost at the very spot they started from, 
which was about forty yards from where I stood, but 
the Egret was driven aside, and sloping rapidly down 
struck the earth at a distance of two hundred yards 
from the starting-point. Scarcely had it touched the 
ground before the hungry quartet were tearing it 
with their beaks. They were all equally hungry no 
doubt, and perhaps the old birds were even hungrier 
than their young; and I am quite sure that if the 
flesh of the dead horse had not been so far advanced 
towards putrefaction they would not have attempted 
the conquest of the Egret. 
I have so frequently seen a pure white bird singled 
out for attack in this way, that it has always been a 
