168 BAHAMA BIRD-LIFE 



us at last so near the Flamingos ' home that we beached the 

 boat and with lowered voices proceeded on foot through the 

 mud and over the sharp coral rock. 



The rookery lay just the other side of a "coppet" of 

 bushes and low trees. I approached it with a painful feeling 

 of expectation ; was it possible that within a minute or two 

 the vision of years would become a reality? Should I 

 actually see a thousand or more red-feathered forms closely 

 massed in one glowing bed of color, building their nests, in- 

 cubating their eggs, or even feeding their young? 



One whose first knowledge of the glories of Flamingo 

 life is, perhaps, suggested by this narrative, probably can- 

 not fully appreciate the abnormal mental condition of the 

 naturalist whose instinctive desires have been sharpened by 

 years of longing and endeavor; neither, without a true 

 understanding of the situation, could one measure the 

 unfathomable depths of my disappointment when, peering 

 cautiously through the vegetation, I saw only the dreary 

 swash stretching birdless before me. 



' i You aint see no birds, sir " ? replied Peter to my inquiry 

 for the rookery; and his surprise at the absence of the 

 " wastly numerous hos-tes," which he had reported as 

 occupying this place only a week before, almost equaled my 

 discouragement in the face of this overwhelming failure. 



Our fears were realized. The deluge of four days before 

 had played havoc with the birds ' home. Hundreds of nests 

 were submerged or washed away, and eggs were stranded 

 on mud bars or half buried in oozy marl. The birds had 

 disappeared ; it was a scene of utter desolation. In view of 

 the probability that other colonies of Flamingos, if such 

 existed, had suffered similar disaster, it seemed useless to 

 attempt further search in this quarter. 



Some work was done while returning to Mangrove Cay. 

 Many Flamingos were seen and painful stalking in marl to 

 the middle resulted in securing what were doubtless the best 

 pictures of Flamingos existing at that time, but they were 



