384 FLAMINGO. 



about fifty yards of it. Inquiries failed to show that any bird of 

 this species had escaped from menageries about the above dates ; 

 but one which was shot in the Isle of Sheppey on August i6th 

 1873, may have been an individual which escaped from the London 

 Zoological Gardens on July 19th. 



The visits of the Flamingo to England are not nearly so remark- 

 able as are those of many other southern species, for stragglers have 

 been obtained in Pomerania and Hesse-Darmstadt ; single birds, 

 and even flocks, have been observed from time to time along the 

 Rhine ; and varying numbers almost annually ascend the valley 

 of the Rhone, visiting the lakes of Savoy, and the etangs of La 

 Brenne in Central France. Flocks of from one to two thousand 

 resort to the extensive salt marshes of the Camargue in years 

 when there' is plenty of water, and in 1870 I saw baskets-full of 

 eggs which had been taken there ; while still larger communities 

 are found at the mouth of the Guadalquivir in the south of Spain, 

 and at Tunis and other suitable places in the basin of the Mediter- 

 ranean ; also in the Caspian district. Its range extends from the 

 Canaries and Cape Verd Islands on the west, over the whole of 

 Africa ; and over Asia as far north and east as Lake Baikal. 



It had long been known that Flamingoes bred in colonies, 

 depositing their eggs on nests built of mud, and raised to heights 

 varying from a few inches to about two feet, according to the 

 liability of the soil to inundation ; but Mr. Abel Chapman was the 

 first to prove, from personal observation (Ibis, 1884, pp. S6-89), that 

 the birds sit with their long legs doubled under their bodies, and 

 do not stand astride of their nests, as popularly supposed and erro- 

 neously pictured. The eggs, laid about May 24th, are 2 in number, 

 and of a very chalky-white surface, beneath which the shell is 

 greenish-blue: average measurements T^'d by 2*25 in. The food 

 consists of aquatic plants and grass, frogs &c. Like Grey Geese, 

 Flamingoes feed by day ; their cry, formations in flight, and moult 

 are similar, and they also swim with ease. 



The adult has the general plumage rosy-white, with scarlet wing- 

 coverts and black quills ; irides and bare skin next the eye yellow ; 

 bill rosy at the base, black at the tip ; legs and feet pinkish-red. 

 The length varies, irrespective of age or sex, from 60-70 in. ; the 

 wing averages 16 in. In the young of the first year the pink is 

 absent, except a slight trace of it on the wings ; the secondaries 

 are irregularly barred with black, and the bill, eyes, legs and feet are 

 dull lead-colour. 



