All at once he was heard to exclaim,-- "A _white_ buzzard! a _white_ buzzard!" Lucien and Basil saw that Francois pointed to the sky overhead.

They raised their eyes in that direction.

There, sure enough, was a _white bird_; but of what species neither of them could make out.

It was flying at a vast elevation--higher, apparently, than any of the buzzards; but even at that great height it appeared larger than any of them.

Like them, it seemed to sail about with great ease, as if the sky was its natural home.
When first observed, it appeared about as large as a gull; and the boys might have taken it for one--not knowing any other _white_ bird likely to be flying about at such a height--but as there were several buzzards near it, and evidently _below_ it, and as these looked no bigger than swallows, what must be its size?
It was not only bigger than a buzzard, but, at least, three times the size of any one of them.