250 PHCENICOPTERID^. 



the low mud plateau was crowded with them as thickly as 

 the space permitted. These nests had little or no height : 

 some were raised 2 or 3 inches, a few might be 5 or 6 

 inches ; but the majority were merely circular bulwarks of 

 mud, with the impression of the bird's legs distinctly 

 marked on it. The general aspect of the plateau was not 

 unlike a large table covered with plates. In the centre was 

 a deep hole full of muddy water, which, from the gouged 

 appearance of its sides, appeared to be used as a reservoir 

 for nest-making materials. Scattered all round this main 

 colony were numerous single nests rising out of the water, 

 and evidently built up from the bottom. Here and there 

 two or three or more of these were joined together — ' semi- 

 detached,' so to speak; these separate nests rose some 

 6 or 8 inches above the water-level, and were about 15 

 inches across. The water was about 12 or 15 inches 

 deep. None of these nests as yet contained eggs ; and 

 though I returned to the ' pajarera ' on the latest day I 

 was in its neighbourhood (May 11th), they still remained 

 empty. On both occasions many hundreds of Flamingoes 

 were sitting on their nests, and on the 11th we had a good 

 view of them at close quarters. Linked arm and arm with 

 Felipe, and crouching low on the water, to look as little 

 human as possible, we approached within some 70 yards 

 before their sentries showed signs of alarm, and at that 

 distance with the glass observed the sitting birds as distinctly 

 as one need wish. Their long red legs doubled under their 

 bodies, the knees projecting as far as or beyond the tail, and 

 their graceful necks neatly curled away among their back- 

 feathers, like a sitting Swan, with their heads resting on 

 their breasts — all these points were unmistakable. Indeed 

 it is hardly necessary to point out that in the great majority 

 of cases (the nests being hardly raised above the level of the 

 flat mud) no other position was possible. 



" Still none of the crowded nests contained a single egg ! 

 How strange it is that the Flamingo, a bird which never 

 seems happy unless up to its knees in water, should so long 

 delay the period of incubation ; for before eggs could be 



