1 68 Three Young Crusoes 



Flamingoes, resplendent in delicate pink, lived 

 in great colonies along the beach and made their 

 peculiar mud nests just high enough to keep the wa- 

 ter from their eggs. The boys were surprised to see 

 them sitting on the nests with their legs folded un- 

 der them instead of hanging down as pictured in the 

 geographies. There were only tw^o eggs to a nest, 

 pure-white and over three inches long. 



One of the greatest surprises was a pair of guineas 

 in the coop-trap one morning. They had evidently 

 run wild into the woods, as guineas have a habit of 

 doing, and it was now the pleasure ot our young ex- 

 plorers to bring them back to civilization again. 

 William also reminded himselt that he could teach 

 Snowball how to fight Easter eggs, and wondered 

 how a little freckled guinea egg would stand up in a 

 battle with a big white flamingo egg. 



Some Other Birds That Were Seen 



Small gray gnatcatcher, wood pewee, large fly- 

 catchers, gray kingbird, vireos, warblers, barn swal- 

 lows, mockingbirds, mangrove cuckoo, belted king- 

 fisher, trogon, red-headed woodpeckers, ivory-billed 

 woodpeckers, parrots, plovers, crows, ground dove, 

 quail dove, white-winged dove, pea-dove, blue pig- 

 eon, bobwhite, wild turkey, terns, coot, pied-billed 



