I goo] The Finding of a Flamingo's Nest. i;;;5 



Agromyzid^. 



Phytomyza, sp. Mines in leaves of Thalictrum. 

 Ag-fomyza aeneoventris, Fall. One specimen. 



PlPUNCULID.^. 



Pipimculus nitidiventris. Loew. One specimen, June 2nd, 



Ephydrid.^. 

 Ochthera mantis, DeG. Three specimens, July and Aug-ust. 

 (Families, 37 ; Genera, 134 ; Species, 234.) 



THE FINDING OF A FLAMINGO'S NEST. 



The Mangrove tree is one of the characteristic growths of 

 Florida, and a Mangrove swamp is perhaps the hardest travelling 

 in the world. The tree sends forth drooping horizontal roots 

 from the trunk, even as high as four or five feet, and these eventu- 

 ally grow down into the mud beneath. My friend Captain S. D. 

 Kendall, of Tarpon Springs, gave me a keen in!^ight into the diffi- 

 culties of Mangrove travel in the following anecdote. He was 

 cruising near the southern extremity of Florida, and happened on 

 a place where Flamingoes fed abundantly on a wide tide flat. Now 

 one of these birds stands about five feet high, is clear pink 

 throughout, and is an ornithological prize; and their nest is seldom 

 seen, being placed in almost inaccessible localities. However, 

 my friend thought these birds were breeding, and not being in a 

 hurry (as is the contented manner of a Floridian) nor yet afraid of 

 any obstacle that might exist, he spent some time watching these 

 birds, feeding, then flying in, flying out, and feeding. After 

 watching a good while, and making a line on the breeding 

 grounds from all possible points, he settled on one point as being 

 closest to the breeding ground, and in the early morning left his 

 comrade, telling him, " If I don't come out in three days, you 

 needn't wait," and started in. The swamp was a mass of Man- 

 grove roots from entrance to centre, and in that whole day of hard 

 labour he covered only about four miles. All through the long night 

 the mosquitoes swarmed, and the bull Alligators roared near by ; 

 he could only sit, and smoke, and fight mosquitoes. Next morning 

 he started at daylight and proved the correctness of his alignment 

 by arriving at the nesting ground in a short time. It was an 



