118 PHCENICOPTERID^E. 



of the body projecting from the nest, and the long legs dangling down 

 in the water, and not tucked up under the bird. 



On the Rio Negro I found the birds most abundant in winter, which 

 surprised me, for that there is a movement of Flamingoes to the north 

 in the autumn I am quite sure, having often seen them passing overhead 

 in a northerly direction in the migrating-season. I have also found the 

 young birds, in the grey plumage, at this season in the marshes near to 

 Buenos Ayres city, hundreds of miles from any known breeding-place. 

 Probably the birds in the interior of the country, where the cold is far 

 more intense than on the sea-coast, go north before winter, while 

 those in the district bordering on the Atlantic have become stationary. 



The Flamingo has a curious way of feeding : it immerses the beak, 

 and by means of a rapid continuous movement of the mandibles passes 

 a current of water through the mouth, where the minutest insects and 

 particles of floating matter are arrested by the teeth. The stomach is 

 small, and is usually found to contain a pulpy mass of greenish-coloured 

 stuff, mixed with minute particles of quartz. Yet on so scanty a fare 

 this large bird not only supports itself, but becomes excessively fat. I 

 spent half a winter in Patagonia at a house built on the borders of a 

 small lake, and regularly every night a small flock of Flamingoes came 

 to feed in the water about 200 yards from the back of the house. I 

 used to open the window to listen to them, and the noise made by their 

 beaks was continuous and resembled the sound produced by wringing 

 out a wet cloth. They feed a great deal by day, but much more, I 

 think, by night. 



Where they are never persecuted they are tame birds, and when a 

 flock is fired into and one bird killed, the other birds, though appa- 

 rently much astonished, do not fly away. They are silent birds, but not 

 actually dumb, having a low hoarse cry, uttered sometimes at the 

 moment of taking flight ; also another cry which I have only heard from 

 a wounded bird, resembling the gobbling of a turkey-cock, only shriller. 

 They are almost invariably seen standing in the water, even when not 

 feeding, and even seem to sleep there ; on land they have a very singular 

 appearance, their immense height, in proportion to their bulk, giving 

 them an appearance amongst birds something like that of the giraffe 

 amongst mammals. To the lakes and water-courses in the midst of the 

 grey scenery of Patagonia they seem to give a strange glory, while 

 standing motionless, their tall rose-coloured forms mirrored in the dark 

 water, but chiefly when they rise and pass in a long crimson train or 

 phalanx, flying low over the surface. 



