256 FLAMINGO 



slight elevation so as to be out of the water, sitting upon them with 

 their legs doubled under the belly. Part of this assertion was 

 proved to be false by Lord Lilford {Froc. Zool. Soc. 1880, pp. 446- 

 450), Avho obtained from Andalusia one of the mud-built nests (just 

 as they were described by Dampier) and gave it to the British 

 Museum, where it may be seen ; but he was unable to offer per- 

 sonal evidence as to the position of the bird dui'ing incubation, 

 though he doubted the probabilit}^ of its being with the legs 

 " stretched out behind," as had in the meanwhile been stated [Ibis, 

 1871, p. 394). Of late the old story has been absolutely contra- 

 dicted both in regard to the Mediterranean species and that of 

 North America. Mr. Abel Chapman described and figured {op. cit. 

 1884, p. 88, pi. iv.) a breeding- place of the former seen by him in 

 Andalusia, and then Sir Henry Blake gave an account (oj). cit. 1888, 

 pp. 151, 152) of a A-isit paid by him to one of the latter on Abaco in 

 the Bahamas. Both of these observers knew of the prevalent belief, 

 and seem to have expected to find it borne out ; but one of them 

 "SAi'ites of the birds as sitting on the nests with their " long red legs 

 doubled under the body," while the other states that "in every 

 instance the legs were folded under the bird in the usual manner." 

 Most of the nests seen by Mr. Chapman, and all apparently that Sir 

 Henry saw, were on mud, — and in the latter case they were only 

 eight inches high, so that it would be impossible for the birds to sit 

 on them in the way described — moreover, none of Mr. Chapman's 

 contained eggs, and therefore he did not 'see a bird actually 

 incubating. The question cannot be regarded as settled, and 

 further observation must be awaited.^ 



It is of course only under very favourable circumstances that 

 such nests as these can be built. When time or place is wanting, 

 the hens seem to drop their eggs at random, and in the south of 

 both France and Spain years seem to pass when, from want of 

 sufficient water, or the persecution of the people, no Flamingos are 

 able to breed, so that more than one beholder of the magnificent 

 sight afforded by them as they flock has wondered in vain concern- 

 ing their birthplace. Late in the summer the adults shed all their 

 quill-feathers, and being thus rendered flightless, are easily cap- 

 tured. Under these circumstances, both the European and the 

 North-American species may be expected to become rare, if not 

 extinct. Flamingos are eminently gregarious. Their favourite 

 resorts are salt-lakes — indeed these may be said to be a prime 

 necessity ; and when, as often happens, they are diminished by 

 drought, the birds have to take long flights in quest of new haunts. 

 Thus some of the wanderers occasionally get separated from the 



^ Since tlie above was in type, Mr. Saunders has shewn me ]\lr. Maynard's 

 account (Nat. in Florida, 1884, Ko. 1) of a breeding-place in the Bahamas, where 

 among hundreds of sitting birds none had its legs " hanging down." 



