::::::::ae OASIS AND DESERT Mzr: 



and from this point there extended upward into the air 

 a vast inverted cone of birds, all circling in the same 

 direction. Prom where we sat upon our horses there 

 seemed not a single one out of place, the outline of the 

 cone was as smooth and distinct as though the birds 

 were limited in their flight to this particular area. It 

 was a rare sight, the sun lighting up every bird on the 

 farther side and shadowing' Idack as nig-ht those nearest 

 us. Through one's partly closed eyes the whole mass 

 appeared composed of a myriad of sloAvly revolving- 

 wheels, intersecting, crossing each other's orbits, but 

 never breaking their circular outline. The thousands 

 of soaring forms held us siJellbound for minutes be- 

 fore 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 ^^erfect equilibrium for a time ; then, as we rode 

 up a gentle slope into clearer view, a Avonderful ascent 

 began. Slowly the oblique spirals swing up^vard. 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 eyes the 

 thousands of birds merge into a shapeless, undulating 



«<> 89 ^■> 



