330 The Bird 
western Mexico: “One of the most wonderful exhibitions 
of bird-flight came to us to-day as we left the alkali plain 
and rode among the mesquite scrub. A confused mass 
of black appeared in the air which, as we advanced, re- 
solved itself into hundreds of individual black specks. 
Fic. 264.—Crested Screamers. 
The atmosphere was so deceptive that what at first seemed 
to be a vast cloud of gnats close at hand, was soon seen 
to be a multitude of birds, and when a quarter of a mile 
away we knew them to be vultures. Three burros lay 
dead upon the plain. This we knew yesterday, and here 
were the scavengers. Never had we seen Vultures more 
