We went forward to the spot from which it had arisen, when suddenly another bird of the same kind, though still larger, sprung up, close to our feet, and was soon soaring above our heads.

I could not help laughing to see the look of astonishment and confusion with which the boys looked upwards after it.

At last Jack took off his hat, and, making a low bow, said, 'Pray, Mr.Bird, be kind enough to pay us another visit, you will find us very good children!' We found the large nest they had left; it was rudely formed of dry grass, and empty, but some fragments of egg-shells were scattered near, as if the young had been recently hatched; we therefore concluded that they had escaped among the grass.
"Doctor Ernest immediately began a lecture.

'You observe, Francis, these birds could not be eagles, which do not form their nests on the ground.
Neither do their young run as soon as they are hatched.

These must be of the _gallinaceous_ tribe, an order of birds such as quails, partridges, turkeys, &c.; and, from the sort of feathered moustache which I observed at the corner of the beak, I should pronounce that these were bustards.' "But we had now reached the little wood, and our learned friend had sufficient employment in scrutinizing, and endeavouring to classify, the immense number of beautiful, unknown birds, which sung and fluttered about us, apparently regardless of our intrusion.
"We found that what we thought a wood was merely a group of a dozen trees, of a height far beyond any I had ever seen; and apparently belonging rather to the air than the earth; the trunks springing from roots which formed a series of supporting arches.