THE FLAMINGO. 



317 



some Herons, on the marine productions left by the tide, but 

 was so shy that some weeks had elapsed before it was killed, 

 at three o'clock in the morning, by a man who had marked its 

 roosting-place on a small rocky island, accessible only on foot 

 at low- water. Another was also killed about this time, at no 

 great distance from the same place. When rising from the 

 ground, it always made several wide circles before getting into 

 full flight. It was very shy, and never could be approached 

 nearer than one hundred yards. 



The Flamingo is by far the most striking of these three 

 genera ; its scientific name is PhoenicopteriiSj from two Greek 

 words, signifying u wings of flame," their beautiful carnation 

 colour contrasting with the plumes of the neck and body, 

 which in one species are of delicate 

 white. It is a most extraordinary 

 bird. Its legs are of an excessive 

 length, and so slender, that at a 

 little distance, standing as they 

 usually do, on one alone, it is not 



easily seen, and the bird appears Beak of the Flamingo, 



as if stationary in the air. But the chief singularity is in the 

 bill, which the annexed figure will explain better than any 

 verbal description. With 

 this misshapen instrument, 

 it would appear, that the act 

 of collecting food must be 

 an affair of some difficulty 

 an opinion rather confirmed 

 by the still more extraordin- 

 ary manner in which it feeds. 

 On looking at the plate, it 

 will be seen that, owing to 

 the sudden curvature, or 

 almost broken and deformed 

 appearance of the beak, food, 

 collected in the usual way, 

 mouth ; and so it would, if the bird fed as other birds do ; but 

 it adopts its own method, by turning its head and scooping up 



The Flamingo. 



must naturally drop from the 



