256 FLAMINGO 
slight elevation so as to be out of the water, sitting upon them with 
their legs doubled under the belly. Part of this assertion was 
proved to be false by Lord Lilford (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1880, pp. 446- 
450), who obtained from Andalusia one of the mud-built nests (just 
as they were described by Dampier) and gave it to the British 
Museum, where it may be seen; but he was unable to offer per- 
sonal evidence as to the position of the bird during incubation, 
though he doubted the probability of its being with the legs 
“stretched out behind,” as had in the meanwhile been stated (Zbis, 
1871, p. 394). Of late the old story has been absolutely contra- 
dicted both in.regard to the Mediterranean species and that of 
North America. Mr. Abel Chapman described and figured (op. cit. 
1884, p. 88, pl. iv.) a breeding-place of the former seen by him in 
Andalusia, and then Sir Henry Blake gave an account (op. cit. 1888, 
pp. 151, 152) of a visit paid by him to one of the latter on Abaco in 
the Bahamas. Both of these observers knew of the prevalent belief, 
and seem to have expected to find it borne out; but one of them 
writes of the birds as sitting on the nests with their “long red legs 
doubled under the body,” while the other states that “in every 
instance the legs were folded under the bird in the usual manner.” 
Most of the nests seen by Mr. Chapman, and all apparently that Sir 
Henry saw, were on mud,—and in the latter case they were only 
eight inches high, so that it would be impossible for the birds to sit 
on them in the way described—moreover, none of Mr. Chapman’s 
contained eggs, and therefore he did not see a bird actually 
incubating. The question cannot be regarded as settled, and 
further observation must be awaited.! 
It is of course only under very favourable circumstances that 
such nests as these can be built. When time or place is wanting, 
the hens seem to drop their eggs at random, and in the south of 
both France and Spain years seem to pass when, from want of 
sufficient water, or the persecution of the people, no Flamingos are 
able to breed, so that more than one beholder of the magnificent 
sight afforded by them as they flock has wondered in vain concern- 
ing their birthplace. Late in the summer the adults shed all their 
quill-feathers, and being thus rendered flightless, are easily cap- 
tured. Under these circumstances, both the European and the 
North-American species may be expected to become rare, if not 
extinct. Flamingos are eminently gregarious. Their favourite 
resorts are salt-lakes—indeed these may be said to be a prime 
necessity ; and when, as often happens, they are diminished by 
drought, the birds have to take long flights in quest of new haunts. 
Thus some of the wanderers occasionally get separated from the 
1 Since the above was in type, Mr. Saunders has shewn me Mr. Maynard’s 
account (Nat. in Florida, 1884, No. 1) of a breeding-place in the Bahamas, where 
among hundreds of sitting birds none had its legs ‘‘ hanging down.” 
