"Such a journey is a mere bagatelle to them.

Now, if I knew the precise moment at which the carrion was discovered by the first one, I could tell how far each of the others had come--that is, each of them whose arrival we are now witnessing." "But how could you do that, brother ?" demanded Basil and Francois, in astonishment; "pray tell us how ?" "I should make my calculation thus:--In the first place, they have all started _at the same time_." "At the same time!" interrupted Basil; "how can that be, if some of them were an hundred miles off ?" "No matter what distance," replied Lucien; "it is all the same.

They have all commenced their flight hither, not _exactly_, but _nearly_, at the same moment.

Is it not plain?
These birds, while hunting for their food, sweep through the air in great circles.

Each of these circles overlooks a large tract of the earth's surface below.