209 The flamingo quadrille 



they are, do not hold a candle to the earlier period for real excite- 

 ment and beauty and interest. Even the birds themselves show 

 manifold signs of boredom during the long incubation, four weeks 

 of almost complete inaction. And sitting on that large white egg, 

 out in the hot sun all day, must be tiresome, even when you are a 

 flamingo and the egg is your very own. 



Fortunately for themselves and their posterity, the flamingos, 

 being birds, are protected from indulgences that may be described 

 as regrets or romantic longings. Their boredom is purely physical. 

 Otherwise, I am sure the long incubation period, and all that 

 must follow, would prove unendurable. Their thoughts would go 

 back, inevitably to the wonderful excitement of that dance in 

 the First Puddle. And who could blame them for sneaking off and 

 starting another shindig? Naturally, this never happens. These 

 lovely, perfectly adapted creatures have no such impulses and no 

 vain dissatisfactions. They haven't even volition, as we know it, 

 but only a complicated behavior mechanism to which they are 

 forever enslaved. Good thing, too, or they might have been extinct 

 ages ago. We do not understand much of all this, only a fragment 

 or an isolated cluster of causes and effects here and there, but the 

 more one looks into this sort of thing the more one is impressed 

 with its amazing and intricate perfection. 



Since those early days of our work with the flamingos, much 

 has been learned and much has been done for their protection. 

 So far as Inagua is concerned, the Society for the Protection of the 

 Flamingo in the Bahamas, with Arthur Vernay at the helm and 

 with the good will and assistance of the Erickson family at Mat- 

 thewtown, has provided complete warden protection. Chief War- 

 den Sam Nixon and his brother James have not only stuck with 

 the flamingos through thick and thin, and in all seasons, but have 

 gained the respect of all, including the native elements of the 

 island. The program at Inagua was initiated while there were yet 

 relatively large numbers of breeding birds in that area and may 

 well be the one outstanding effort that will turn the tide in favor 

 of a new lease on life for these splendid birds. But the support of 

 government and of privately contributed funds must not be 

 relaxed. 



