70 WADING BIRDS. 



the web indented ; nails short and flat. Wings moderate in dimen- 

 sions, the 1st and 2d primaries nearly equal and longest. Tail short, 

 of 16 feathers. 



The neck is exceedingly long, and very slender ; the female smaller 

 and somewhat paler than the male. The young differ greatly from 

 tlie adult, and change their plumage repeatedly. The moult is 

 annual; colors red, at first white, and rose color. 



The Flamingos, inhabiting solitary sea coasts in all the warmer 

 parts of the Avorld, associate and migrate in large flocks, forming 

 themselves into an angular phalanx like the Wild Geese. They 

 feed upon molluscous animals, spawn, and insects, which they are 

 in the habit of fishing up by means of their long necks, turning their 

 bill upside down, to take advantage of its peculiar, and otherwise 

 awkward form; they even assist themselves often in walking, by 

 placing the flat part of their upper mandible upon the ground in the 

 manner of a support. They are extremely shy, and watchful ; estab- 

 lishing sentinels to give warning of danger, by a loud trumpet-like 

 call. They breed also in societies in inundated marshes ; during the 

 progress of incubation, raising the nest to the height of the body, by 

 collecting the mud into a hillock with their feet, where they brood 

 and hatch often standing in the water. The eggs are 2 or 3, white, 

 and of an elongated form. The young run as soon as hatched. They 

 sleep standing upon one leg, with the neck folded back upon the 

 body , and the head reclined under the wing. They run swiftly, but 

 never swim from choice. Their scent and hearing are also very 

 acute. The genus consists of 4 species, one of which inhabits Eu- 

 rope, and another, so similar as to be mistaken for the same, is pe- 

 culiar to the warmer parts of the present continent. 



