THE FLAMINGO. 45 



A similar account is furnished by Catesby, who 

 compares the flamingo, sitting across its nest, to a 

 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. 



THE 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. 



