2088 FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS 



Although essentially a wader, the flamingo in deep water can swim well and 

 powerfully, carrying the neck nearly straight and inclined somewhat forward, 

 and moving in a series of jerks. In flight, the neck and legs are stretched straight 

 out in front and behind, the flock progressing in the same formation as geese, and 

 uttering "gaggling" cries almost indistinguishable from those of the latter. Al- 

 though flamingoes doubtless consume a number of small aquatic animals, it would 

 appear that their chief food consists of various water plants, which are pulled up 

 from beneath the surface. When feeding, the flamingo turns its head the wrong 

 way up, in which position its bent beak forms a most efficient spoon-like instru- 

 ment. The nests, as described by Mr. Abel Chapman at the mouth of the Guadal- 

 quivir, are in the form of round basin-shaped elevations of mud placed in close 

 continuity on the mud flats. They may vary from two to six inches in height, but 

 the majority are very shallow, and present somewhat the appearance of a number of 

 plates spread over the plain. Other single nests were, however, situated in the 

 water, and were in consequence much taller. The eggs, two in number, have a 

 chalky external coating, beneath which is a greenish-blue shell. During incubation 

 Mr. Chapman states that the birds have ' ' their long, red legs doubled under their 

 bodies, the knees projecting as far as beyond the tail, and their graceful necks neatly 

 coiled away among their back feathers, like a sitting swan, with their heads resting 

 on their breasts. " According to Brehm, the period of incubation lasts a month; 

 the young take to the water almost immediately after hatching, swimming to a 

 much greater extent than their parents. When conditions are not favorable for 

 building, nests like the above cannot be formed, and the eggs are dropped any- 

 where; while, in some seasons, from persecution or want of water, the birds do not 

 breed at all. 



During the Miocene period there existed in Europe numerous 

 P~ egge flamingo-like birds which cannot be referred to the existing genus, 

 even if they belong to the same family. The best known of these 

 have been named Palcelodus, and were smaller birds than modern flamingoes, from 

 which they were distinguished by their relatively-shorter and stouter legs and 

 longer toes, while it is highly probable that the beak was not deflected in the man- 

 ner characterizing the true flamingoes. 



THE DUCK TRIBE 

 Order ANSERES Family ANA 



Nearly related as are the members. of the duck tribe to the flamingoes, yet 

 they are very different-looking birds, easily distinguished by external characteris- 

 tics. In the first place, their legs are always short, and inferior in length to the 

 wings, the tibia being usually feathered nearly or quite to the ankle, and scarcely 

 free from the body. The canon bone, or metatarsus, differs from that of the flam- 

 ingoes in its shortness, although the two resemble one another in the shortness and 

 backward direction of the trochlea for the second toe, while the tibia is at once 



