THE FLAMINGO 159 



nesting season. Within a radius of a mile, no less than 

 eight groups of nests were discovered. They exhibited suc- 

 cessive stages of decay from the old nests, which had almost 

 disappeared before the action of the elements, to those 

 which were in an excellent state of preservation and had 

 evidently been occupied the preceding year. Indeed, in one 

 of these nests, I found an old egg. 



Some nests were placed among small mangroves, others 

 were hidden in the well-grown mangroves, and one colony, 

 which I subsequently learned from Mr. Matthews, had been 

 occupied in 1898, was situated on a sand-bar two hundred 

 yards from the nearest vegetation. All the groups 

 examined contained several hundred nests, and the one on 

 the sand-bar, by actual count of a measured section, was 

 composed of 2000 of the little mud dwellings. What an 

 amazing sight this settlement must have presented when it 

 was inhabited by red-plumaged birds standing as closely 

 massed as the position of the nests would indicate ! With 

 the scene clearly pictured in my mind, I knew I should 

 never be content until I had seen it in nature. 



The thousands of nests seen were built of mud, which, I 

 learned later, was scooped up by the bird from about its 

 feet. In selecting a nesting-site, therefore, the birds are 

 governed by the condition of the ground, which must be soft 

 enough to serve as mortar. When the rainy season comes 

 early in May, and the rainfall is heavy, the water on the 

 flat swashes runs back into the mangroves and the birds 

 then build in the bushes. But when the rains are delayed, 

 or are light, the birds must come more in the open about the 

 borders of the lagoons. This enforced proximity to water, 

 brings with it danger from tides or the floods following a 

 tropical downpour, and the nest is therefore made high 

 enough to protect its contents from a rise in the water ; the 

 average height being about ten inches. 



Flamingos in small flocks containing from three or four 

 to fifty individuals, were seen, but they were excessively 



