266 I N A G U A 



that ran parallel to the shore and which were separated by- 

 narrow lanes of water. The nests were all new and many still 

 showed the wet marks of feet and bills where they had been 

 patted and moulded into shape. There were a few eggs, but 

 not many. The colony had just been formed; I was a little too 

 early. 



Quietly, so as not to frighten the flock any further, I re- 

 treated to the boat, pushed oif and went drifting down the 

 lake on the wings of the wind. As I swept away the flock once 

 again rose, circled, and then settled on the nests. Through my 

 binoculars I could see individual birds at work, scraping up 

 the mud and patting it with their feet. Those that had laid 

 eggs settled awkwardly in place and began brooding their 

 spawn. This was the last I was ever to see of them. 



After two weeks I returned and went directly to the col- 

 ony. There was not a bird in sight nor an egg— only broken 

 shells and empty nests. In the soft mud between the nests was 

 the evidence— the prints of bare human feet. Natives had 

 found the colony and cleaned it out for the eggs. I spent 

 nearly a month looking for another nesting site but found 

 nothing but small companies of non-breeding birds. 



The natural dangers of existence such as floods, wind, dis- 

 ease and downpouring rain are all the evils with which the 

 flamingos can successfully cope. When the disaster of human 

 interference during their breeding period is added, the hope 

 that these most magnificent of birds can survive continued 

 molestation is remote. The number of flamingos on Inagua 

 has visibly decreased during the last eight years, and unless 

 the Bahaman Government can educate its natives to protect 

 these creatures, if for no other reason than the added beauty 

 they give the island, it will be only a short time before one 

 of the world's most sublime sights will have disappeared from 

 the earth. 



