THE BIRD BOOK 



This bird, with its broad, flat bill, bare head, and rosy plumage with carmine 

 epaulets and tail coverts, seem more like the fanciful creation of some artist 

 than a real bird of flesh and blood. Its plumage and colors are strikingly clear 



and beautiful. Full plmnaged 

 - - -^ ^ adult birds have very brilliant 



carmine shoulders and tail cov- 

 erts, a saffron colored tail, and a 

 lengthened tuft of bright rosy 

 feathers on the foreneck. This 

 species breed in small colonies 

 ■ in marshy places, often in com- 

 ' ' pany with herons and ibises. 

 ,' » Their nests are rather frail plat- 

 .^. ■ forms of sticks, located in bush- 

 ''■^- / es or trees, from four to lifteen 

 , ^ feet from the ground. The eggs 



are laid during the latter pairt 

 of May and June. They are 

 three or four in number and 

 have a ground color of dull 

 white, or pale greenish blue and 

 are quite heavily blotched with several shades of brown. Size 2.50 x 1.70. 



Pale greenish blue 



Chalky bluish white 

 Egg- of American Flamingo 







116 



