THE FLAMINGO 



163 



orable Congress of the American Ornithologists' Union 

 held in San Francisco, and a willing captive to the charms 

 of California bird-life ; but a negro member of our expedi- 

 tion of 1902 was dispatched from Nassau to southern An- 

 dros to report on the movements of the Flamingos, with a 

 view to facilitating work the following season. He was 

 unsuccessful, and at the end of two seasons' searching, we 

 seemed to have made small progress in discovering the 

 location of the Flamingo stronghold. Communications, 

 however, had been established _ 

 with the Rev. Mr. Matthews, 

 who had directed us to the 

 abandoned rookery visited in 

 1902. As the rector of Andros, 

 and one of the twelve white 

 inhabitants in a population 

 of between five and six 

 thousand, Mr. Matthews was 

 in a position to be of great 

 service in continuing the search 

 for Flamingos, and his 

 cooperation proved to be inval- 

 uable. At the approach of 

 the 1904 breeding season, act- 

 ing as the Museum's represen- 

 tative, he sent negroes to search for the Flamingos ' nesting 

 ground. It requires an exceptionally courageous native to 

 visit the more remote and almost unknown interior of An- 

 dros where, indeed, one might encounter a " Jumby." Only 

 picked men were employed, but one after the other 

 returned unsuccessful, without perhaps having taken too 

 great risks in Jumby Land, until Peter Bannister alone was 

 left to continue the search, and it was owing to his persever- 

 ance that the home of the Flamingo was found. 



Word was at once sent me by vessel, to Nassau, and 

 thence, by cable, to Miami, but in the meantime, accom- 



The Gloria 



