A MOVING SPECTACLE. 109 



new strength from the danger which threatened him, by 

 a rapid movement deceived the eye of the falcon, and the 

 latter was carried some twenty feet beyond. This space 

 was soon crossed anew ; and by an abrupt summerset, he 

 contrived to seize the heron by the throat, and the battle 

 recommenced, body to body. All at once a large plume, 

 empurpled with blood, and belonging to one of the two 

 combatants, fell in our midst, and the falcon for the 

 feather was his rolled wildly over, as if stricken by a 

 deadly ball. We thought all was finished ; but this was 

 only a swoon, not a defeat. With augmented fury the 

 brave bird dashed against his foe ; and the fight which 

 took place before our eyes it is impossible to describe. 

 The two birds wheeled round in immense orbits, some- 

 times circular, sometimes oval, sometimes broken and 

 irregular. 



At length, after many useless stratagems and a thou- 

 sand hopeless detours, the heron, caught between the 

 powerful talons of the bird of prey, and his stomach torn 

 by his crooked beak as by a scythe that of Death fell 

 headlong on the border of the morass. But barely had 

 he touched the soil before the falcon again pounced upon 

 him, rose with him in the air, and not until he had 

 breathed his last did the furious bird throw him to the 

 ground, heavy, lifeless, and motionless. 



Three times during the day was this spectacle repeated; 

 one of the most moving on which my eyes had ever rested. 



The cold still continued, and the ice accumulated on 

 the shores of the Mississippi, leaving in the centre only a 

 very narrow canal free from obstacles. We resolved on 

 setting out for Cape Girardeuu. 



