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. Jack climbed one of
the arches, and measured the trunk of the tree with a piece of
packthread. He found it to be thirty-four feet. I made thirty-two steps
round the roots. Between the roots and the lowest branches, it seemed
about forty or fifty feet. The branches are thick and strong, and the
leaves are of a moderate size, and resemble our walnut-tree. A thick,
short, smooth turf clothed the ground beneath and around the detached
roots of the trees, and everything combined to render this one of the
most delicious spots the mind could conceive.

"Here we rested, and made our noon-day repast; a clear rivulet ran near