QUEST OF THE FIREBIRDS 265 



solid front. I stopped also, overawed by the phalanx. As nearly 

 as I could estimate there were at least three thousand fla- 

 mingos. Every eye was turned in my direction; I suddenly 

 felt self conscious and, I must admit, almost afraid. I knew, 

 of course, that flamingos were absolutely harmless, yet the 

 spectacle of three thousand scarlet birds lined up in an im- 

 mense army as though ready to charge was a little unnerving. 

 I know now how the men of Lexington must have felt when 

 they saw the regiments of scarlet-clad British. 



Slowly, trying not to make a splash, I crept toward the 

 flock. A sudden hush settled over the universe. The birds 

 remained motionless, their heads high in the air. Fifty yards. 

 Then thirty. I unslung the camera, opened it and held it in 

 my hand. Then the whole world burst into flame. With a 

 resounding roar the three thousand birds catapulted into the 

 sky at once, and the entire firmament was sheeted in crimson. 

 Instinctively I crouched, as I would have if a blast of fire 

 had suddenly swept out of a volcano. Even at thirty yards 

 I could feel the rush of air created by the wings. The great 

 multitude poured in an immense swathe over my head, and 

 a long slow rain of pink feathers, dislodged by the sudden ac- 

 tion, floated all around on the water. The flock swirled out 

 into the lake and then settled like a vast pink snowstorm on 

 the surface. When I recovered from the spell of their going, 

 I was amazed to discover that I was trembling all over. Noth- 

 ing that I have ever witnessed in all the realm of nature has 

 ever quite come up to this incident. 



To my chagrin, when it was all over, I realized that I had 

 completely forgotten the camera. It was still clutched in my 

 hand, untouched. Tying the boat to a boulder I walked over 

 to the shore where the flamingos had been and saw then that 

 I had at last found the main nesting colony. Hundreds of 

 conical nests were arranged in low rows on ridges of rock 



