On some Bahama Birds.



§7



a quiet well-sheltered spot, I found our little friend singing away

most happily. Although a “ little ” song, it was sweet and

attractive, and adds considerably to the value of the species as a

pet. He was quite alone. He has several little call notes, not

very often uttered, one commencing with a running twitter being

perhaps the most commonly uttered.


From this, and his exhibition of boldness yesterday, I may

now conclude that my bird is a male, probably a young one.

The comparatively small bill may, therefore, be accepted as a sign

of juvenility, not of sex.



FIELD NOTES ON SOME BAHAMA BIRDS.


By J. Lewis Bonhote, M.A.


Part IV.


One of the chief objects of my journey was to learn more

about the nesting habits of the Flamingo, which is undoubtedly

the most beautiful bird found in these islands, and, in this

respect, the results were not very satisfactory. The Flamingo,

as most of my readers are aware, is an aberrant, and very highly

specialized, member of the Duck family. It is entirely an

inhabitant of salt, shallow lagoons, and, in such places, a species

of the genus may be found, though by no means commonly,

throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.

Its food consists, almost entirely, of small animalculae and

molluscs which it-stirs up with its feet from the mud at the

bottom of the lagoons in which it feeds. Once these facts are

understood, the reason of its peculiar structure becomes at once

patent; the long legs enable it to keep its body above the water

and at the same time to stir up the mud, while the long neck by

counterbalancing the legs enables it to feed comfortably from the

bottom.


The peculiar shape of the beak has always struck me as a

most marvellous instance of adaptation, the large and hollow

lower mandible and the flat upper mandible are precisely analo¬

gous to those of a duck except that the positions of the man-



