THE FLAMINGO. 357 



lock, with a cavity on the top where the eggs are laid ; 

 and the height of the hillock is such, that she can sit as 

 comfortably on her nest as a horseman does on his saddle, 

 leaving her legs to hang dangling down at full length on 

 either side. 



This bill, misshapen as it is, can also, in case of neces- 

 sity, be used for a very different purpose from that of 

 feeding ; for one of these birds in confinement having 

 been accidentally deprived of a leg, soon found a remedy 

 by walking with the other, and using its bill as a crutch, 

 and probably finding it as serviceable as a wooden leg, 

 which, strange to say, has been supplied in a similar case. 

 The circumstance is mentioned by an eye-witness*. " A 

 Crane, having," as he says, " had one of his legs broken, 

 and cut off above the knee, had a wooden leg and thigh, 

 with a joint so accurately made, that the creature could 

 walk and use it as well as if it had been natural." 



We have alluded to the bright pink and scarlet colours 

 of the Flamingoes, which give them a soldier-like ap- 

 pearance, in addition to further military habits they seem 

 very generally to adopt. Not only do they always as- 

 semble in flocks, but they form in long lines of regular 

 rank and file, as well for the purpose of fishing, as when 

 they repose on the strand. Still further: after the 

 manner of experienced soldiers, they post sentinels, who 

 keep a good look-out ; and, if anything suspicious attracts 

 their notice, immediately send forth a cry like the sound 

 of a trumpet, when the whole corps moves off in regular 

 marching order. 



In the river Inhambau, on the eastern coast of Africa, 

 the officers of Captain Owen's surveying-ships found them 

 so numerous, that every shoal was covered with them, 

 " looking," to use their words, " at a distance, like large 

 variegated plains, and, upon a nearer approach, resem- 

 bling files of soldiers. When the sun was shining upon 

 them, nothing could surpass the beauty of their brilliant 

 and dazzling appearance." 



* EVELYN'S Diary, vol. ii. 



