232 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 cblique 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 
the 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 earnestly striving. But always we must remember 
