332 The Bird 



forms held us spellbound for minutes before we rode 

 closer. Now a change took place, as gradual but as sure 

 as the shifting clouds of a sunset. Until this moment 

 there was a tendency to concentrate at the base of the 

 cone, that portion becoming more and more black until it 

 seemed a solid mass of rapidly revolving forms. But, 

 at our nearer approach, this concentration ceased, and 

 there was perfect equilibrium for a time; then, as we 

 rode up a gentle slope into clearer view, a wonderful 

 ascent began. Slowly the oblique spirals swing upward; 

 the gigantic cone, still perfect in shape, lifts clear of 

 the ground and drifts away, the summit rises in a 

 curve which, little by little, frays out into ragged lines, 

 all drifting in the same direction, and before our very eyes 

 tlie thousands of birds merge into a shapeless undulating 

 cloud which rises and rises, spreading out more and more 

 until the eye can no longer distinguish the birds which 

 from vultures dwindle to motes, floating and lost among 

 the clouds." 



Concerning the greatest extent of wing which any 

 bird possesses, there are records of a Wandering Albatross 

 which measured fourteen feet from tip to tip, but the 

 condor of South America exceeds this, certain individuals 

 having an expanse of fifteen feet. 



Having considered the finest flyers among the birds, 

 we may now begin to go down the scale and see what 

 has happened when certain species have deliberately dis- 

 carded the wonderful power of flight with which Nature 

 has provided them and for which human inventors are 

 so earnestlv striving. But alwavs we must remember 



