272 Recently published Ornithological 1 Forks. 



birds are referred to 62 species, all of which were previously 

 known and named. Seven specimens of Somateria v-nigrum 

 (not v-nigra !) were obtained at Bird Island, Seldovia, and 

 two nests were taken, one with 5 eggs and another with 4. 



40. Chapman on the Nesting of the Flamingo. 



[(1) A Flamingo City, recording a recent Exploration in a little-known 

 Field of Ornithology. By Frank M. Chapman. Century Magazine, 

 December 1904. 



(2) Young Flamingoes. By Frank M. Chapman. Bird-Lore, vol. vi. 

 No. <;, Nov.-Dec. 1904.] 



In the first of these articles Mr. Chapman gives a well- 

 written and. most interesting account of his visit in May 1894 

 to a nesting-place of the Red Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) 

 in one of the islands of the Bahama group. The narrative 

 is profusely illustrated by photographic pictures taken on 

 the spot, and by coloured plates which shew us every 

 phase of the existence of this remarkable bird from the 

 egg to the adult. It is, in fact, a most attractive piece 

 of work, and we are only sorry that it should lie buried 

 among a mass of ordinary fiction, not always of a first-class 

 character. But no ornithologist should omit to read it. 



In the second article;, in ' Uird-Lore/ further particulars 

 are given concerning the habits and plumages of the young 

 Flamingo. This is also appropriately illustrated. 



We venture to think, however, that the original source 

 from whence Mr. Chapman gained his information as to the 

 existence of the "Flamingo-rookery" should have been 

 more clearly stated. We believe that it was due to the active 

 researches of a well-known member of the B. O. U. that the 

 discovery was made*. It would also have been better to 

 state that the idea of the Flamingo "straddling" across 

 its nest in order to cover its eggs had not only been upset 

 twenty years ago, but that the exact position of the legs 

 when the bird is sitting had been correctly figured from 

 Mr. Chapman's sketches in 1881 f. 



* Cf. Bull. B. O. C. xv. p. 51 (1905). 



f See 'Ibis,' 1884, pi. iv. 



