THE FLAMINGO. 45 
A similar account is furnished by Catesby, who 
compares the flamingo, sitting across its nest, toa 
man on a desk-stool, with his legs hanging down.* 
Labat, who found these birds breeding in multitudes 
on the coasts of Cuba and of the Bahama Islands, 
on the deluged shores and low islets, says, “I was 
shown a great number of these nests; they resem- 
bled truncated cones, composed:of fat earth, about 
eighteen or twenty inches high, and as much in 
diameter at the base. They are always in the 
water; that is, in meres or marshes. Their cones 
are solid to the height of the water, and then hol- 
low, like a pot, baned at top; in this they lay two 
eggs, which they hatch by resting on them, and 
covering the hole with their tail. 1 broke some, 
but found neither feathers, nor herbs, nor anything 
that might receive the eggs; the bottom is some- 
what concave, and the sides are very even.” M. 
Descourtilz represents the standing position of the 
female, while hatching, as so fatiguing, that the male 
is under the necessity of relieving her, though he 
does so with great reluctance, and when he has no © 
longer the heart to refuse her importunate cries. 
This is probably little more than the fancy of the 
naturalist. 
CHAPTER IV. 
CARPENTER BIRDS. 
Tue ancient Peruvians called all birds which chisel 
out holes in trees Tacatacas. This name has been 
literally rendered Carpenteros by the Spaniards, and 
the appellation is contined to the present time. 
* Catesby, Carolina, i., 74. 
