• STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 257 



An amusing anecdote is told about a com- 

 pany of flamingoes being mistaken for soldiers. 

 During the French revolutionary war, when 

 the English were expected to attack St. Do- 

 mingo, a negro, having perceived at the dis- 

 tance of a mile or two, a long file of flamingoes, 

 pruning their wings, thought they were English 

 soldiers. Their long necks he mistook for 

 shouldered muskets, and their scarlet plumage 

 he took for military costume. The poor fellow 

 accordingly started off to Gronalves, running 

 through the streets, and shouting that the En- 

 glish had come! Upon this alarm, the com- 

 mandant of the garrison instantly sounded the 

 alarm, doubled the guards, and sent out a body 

 of men to meet the invaders. Bat he soon 

 found, by means of his glass, that it was only 

 a company of red flamingoes. So the troops 

 marched back to the garrison, not a little merry 

 with the result of their expedition. 



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