396 FLAMINGO. 



about fifty yards of it. Inquiries failed to show that any bird of this 

 species had escaped from menageries about the above dates ; but 

 one which was shot in the Isle of Sheppey on August i6th 1873, 

 may have been an individual which escaped from the London 

 Zoological Gardens on July 19th. 



The visits of the Flamingo to England are not nearly so remark- 

 able as are those of many other southern species, for stragglers have 

 been obtained in Pomerania and Hesse-Darmstadt ; single birds, 

 and even flocks, have been observed from time to time along the 

 Lower Rhine ; and varying numbers often ascend the valley of the 

 Rhone, visiting the lakes of Switzerland, Savoy, and the /'fangs of 

 La Brenne in Central France. Flocks still resort to the lagoons of 

 the Rhone delta, and in years when there is plenty of water they 

 breed on the etang de Valcares ; while still larger communities are 

 found at the mouth of the Guadalquivir in the south of Spain, and 

 at Tunis and other suitable places in North Africa. The Flamingo 

 also breeds in the Cape Verde Islands ; ranges over the whole of 

 Africa ; and inhabits Asia from the Caspian to Lake Baikal. 



It had long been known that Flamingoes bred in colonies, 

 depositing their eggs on nests built of mud, and raised to heights 

 varying from a few inches to about two feet, according to thr 

 liability of the soil to inundation ; but Mr. Abel Chapman was the 

 first to prove, from personal observation (Ibis, 1884, pp. 86-89), that 

 the birds sit with their long legs doubled under their bodies, and 

 do not stand astride of their nests, as popularly supposed and erro- 

 neously pictured. The eggs, laid about May 24th, are 2 in number, 

 and have a very chalky-white surface, beneath which the shell is 

 greenish-blue: measurements y6 by 2-25 in. Mr. W. Eagle Clarke 

 found that in the Camargue the food consisted of minute crustaceans 

 {Artonia salina), &c. Flamingoes feed by day ; their cry, formation 

 in flight, and moult are Anserine, and they swim with ease. 



The adult has the general plumage rosy-white, with scarlet wing- 

 coverts and black quills ; irides and bare skin next the eye yellow ; 

 bill rosy at the base, black at the tip ; legs and feet pinkish- red. 

 The length to the tip of the tail varies, irrespective of age or sex, 

 from 50-60 in. ; wing 16-17 in- I" the young of the first year the 

 pink is absent, except a slight trace of it on the wings ; the 

 secondaries are irregularly barred with black, and the bill, eyes, legs 

 and feet are dull lead-colour. The nesding is covered with greyish- 

 white down ; the bill is nearly straight. 



