258 Life and Immortality. 



high overhead, mere specks against the blue dome of the sky, 

 evidently scanning the earth beneath with their telescopic 

 vision for the presence of food, or endeavoring to scent it 

 with their keen sense of smell. 



Nearer and nearer the flock drew earthward, till finally, 

 a full hour being spent in graceful manoeuvring, the birds 

 settled down upon the green -carpeted meadow, but a few 

 yards from the carrion that lay festering with vermin. 



Their feathers adjusted, and folded to rest their wide- 

 spreading pinions, the young, in obedience to orders, as it 

 seemed, leaped on to a huge pine log that lay near by, while 

 the old folks surveyed, wistfully and long, from their stand- 

 point of observation on the ground, the odorous carrion a few 

 feet away, as if whetting their appetites for the feast they 

 were soon to enjoy. 



With a few quick steps, that were meant to be graceful, 

 the female drew near, but the male lingered doubtingly be- 

 hind. In a trice she was busy at work, tearing with claw 

 and with bill the daintiest morsels. Rendered mad by the 

 smell of the food the male, no longer seeming backward, 

 pressed forward to her side, but only to retreat before her 

 savage assaults. Again he essayed the attempt, and was 

 beaten back as he had been before. Convinced that further 

 effort would be useless, he strode sulkily to a distance, where, 

 in moody contemplation, he nervously awaited her lady- 

 ship's sweet pleasure. 



Being filled to the full the female now moved lazily away 

 to a clean patch of grass, where she immediately set to work 

 to arranging her toilet, wiping her bill and her claws upon 

 the green carpet before her, craning her neck and stretching 

 her pinions, yawning and gaping and gaping and yawning, 

 and finally ending all by seeking the topmost rail of a near- 

 by fence for rest and composure. 



With nothing to fear, the male now stalked complacently 

 forward, and was soon hard at work at what was left of the 

 carcass. His appetite less capacious than that of his lady, 



