104 



FLAMINGO. 



Immediately after anclioring we entered our lint-bottomed bateau, and taking one 

 man to propel the boat, pushed put into the winding creek. Tiie water here was n few 

 inches deep only and, on account of the whitish colored mud at the bottom, was a liglit 

 pea green in color. This, together with the white, unprotected marly surface of the 

 land, formed a medium from whieli the sun was reflected with such dazzling brightness 

 as to l)e very oppressive to the e_yes, while the heat was intense. 



Our first stopping place was a mangrove bush which enlivened the dreary waste of 

 Avhiteness witli its dark green foliage, in order to procure some mottled specimens of the 

 Reddish Egret, and while here caught sight of my Jirst living Flamingo. I was placing 

 mv newly obtained herons in the boat, when, glancing nortliward. I saw four red birds 



Fig. 27. 



Stomach, duodenum, etc. of a, Flamingo. L, proventrculus : S, .stomach ; 0, spleen; D, D, duodenum ; 

 P, pancreas ; II, section of small intestine to whicli a point of the itancreas adheres, an unusual occurance 

 among birds ; I, intestine. From a female taken on Inagua, Feb., -ttli,, ISSS. Life sisie. 



flying toward us, Imt very far ofl'. We instaiitl\- concealed ourselves and anxiously 

 watchedthe approach of the scarlet strangers. They w<'re tlyingin a straight line, one 

 behind the other, and were headed toward a point on the flats slightly to the eastward 

 of us. On they came until they were nearly abreast of us when they lowered their long 

 legs, raised their necks, and came down in the shallow w\ater of a little bay about four 

 hundred yards away. Here they began to walk slowly up toward the head of the ba.v, 

 occasionally stopping to arrange their feathers or to prol)e on the bottom b\- bending the 

 head forward and downward. My eflbrts to stop these birds proved unsuccessful, for, 

 as they neared the middle of the bay, they became alarmed at something, and seeino- that 

 they were about to fly, I gave them a charge of large shot, which, as they nuist have 

 been two hundred yards away, only had the efleet of making them run a few paces,. 



