370 PELICAN RESTING BY NIGHT. 



for the smallest symptom of danger. The great mud 

 flats of Lake Menzaleh, near the entrance to the Suez 

 Canal, is a celebrated place for them, and we have 

 seen pelicans in enormous numbers, thus assembled, 

 covering many square acres of ground, and presenting 

 a magnificent appearance ; some standing spread out 

 in long white lines extending for hundreds of yards 

 like regiments of soldiers, in some instances so closely 

 packed that in the distance they seemed a solid mass 

 resembling a bank of snow. Others again scattered 

 over the water, upon which each bird floats, forming 

 one of an infinite number of detached grey dots, rising 

 upon its surface. * Here and there also, along the 

 shores of Lake Menzaleh, may often be observed 

 considerable flocks of flamingoes (Phoenicop terns 

 Rosens) standing in the shallows, which by their 

 superior height and colour are easily distinguished from 

 pelicans. The flamingo is a peculiar ornithological 

 resident, rarely or never absent from the lake, where 

 they breed in very large numbers ; their nests consisting 

 merely of a round heap of sandy mud, raised a few 

 inches above the water, f This bird is a habitant 

 of saline lakes and other stagnant intensely salt waters. 

 The indication therefore, which the presence of the 

 flamingo affords to travellers in unknown regions, is 

 that of the certain existence of saline districts in the 

 neighbourhood: thus all over Northern Africa, the 

 flamingo is a visitor to the salt lakes, which are there 

 found in large numbers, and some of which cover a 

 considerable area, on the southern slopes of the 



* When the bird is swimming the white parts are mostly concealed 

 from view, and the birds look grey. 



j- Specimens of these birds and their nests are shown in the South 

 Kensington Museum of Natural History, London. 



