566 



A HISTORY OF 



The flesh of the old ones is black and hard ; 

 though, Dampier says, well-tasted : that of the 

 young ones is still better. But of all other 

 delicacies, the flamingos' tongue is the most 

 celebrated. " A dish of flamingos' tongues," 

 says our author, " is a feast for an emperor." 

 In fact, the Roman emperors considered them 

 as the highest luxury; and we have an ac- 

 count of one of them, who procured fifteen 

 hundred flamingos' tongues to be served up 

 in a single dish. The tongue of this bird, 

 which is so much sought after, is a good deal 

 l;irger than that of any other bird whatever. 

 The bill of the flamingo is like a large black 

 box, of an irregular figure, and filled with a 

 tongue which is black and gristly ; but what 

 peculiar flavour it may possess, I leave to be 

 determined by such as understand good eat- 

 ing better than I do. It is probable, that the 

 beauty and scarcity of the bird might be the 

 first inducements to studious gluttony to fix 

 upon its tongue as meat for the table. What 

 Dampier says of the goodness of its flesh, can- 

 not so well be relied on; for Dampier was 

 often hungry, and thought any thing good that 

 could be eaten : he avers, indeed, with Labat, 

 that the flesh is black, tough, and fishy ; so 

 that we can hardly give him credit, when he 

 asserts, that its flesh can be formed into a 

 luxurious entertainment. 



These birds, as was said, always go in flocks 

 together; and they move in rank, in the man- 

 ner of cranes. They are sometimes seen, at 

 the break of day, flying down in great num- 

 bers from the mountains, and conducting each 

 other with a trumpet cry, that sounds like the 

 word Tococo, from whence the savages of Ca- 

 nada have given them the name. In their 

 flight they appear to great advantage; for 

 they then seem of as bright a red as a burn- 

 ing coal. When they dispose themselves to 

 feed, their cry ceases ; and then they disperse 

 over a whole marsh, in silence and assiduity. 

 Their manner of feeding is very singular: 

 the bird thrusts down its head, so that the 

 upper convex side of the bill shall only touch 

 the ground ; and in this position the animal 

 appears, as it were, standing upon its head. 

 In this manner it paddles and moves the bill 

 about, and seizes whatever fish or insect hap- 

 pens to offer. For this purpose the upper 

 chap is notched at the edges, so as to hold 



its prey with the greater security. Catesby. 

 however, gives a different account of their 

 feeding. According to him, they thus place 

 the upper chap undermost, and so work about 

 in order to pick up a seed from the bottom 

 of the water, that resembles millet: but as 

 in picking up this they necessarily also suck 

 in a great quantity of mud, their bill is tooth- 

 ed at the edges in such a manner as to let 

 out the mud while they swallow the grain. 



Their time of breeding is according to the 

 climate in which they reside: in North Ame- 

 rica they breed in our summer; on the other 

 side the line, they take the most favourable 

 season of the year. They build their nests 

 in extensive marshes, and where they are in 

 no danger of a surprise. The nest is not 

 less curious than the animal that builds it: 

 it is raised from the surface of the pool about 

 a foot and a half, formed of mud scraped up 

 together, and hardened by the sun, or the 

 heat of the bird's body: it resembles a trun- 

 cated cone, or one of the pots which we see 

 placed on chimneys; on the top it is hollow- 

 ed out to the shape of the bird, and in that 

 cavity the female lays her eggs, without any 

 lining but the well-cemented mud that forms 

 the sides of the building. She always lays 

 two eggs, and no more ; and, as her legs are 

 immoderately long, she straddles on the nest, 

 while her legs hang down, one on each side, 

 into the water. 



The young ones are a long while before 

 they are able to fly ; but they run with ama- 

 zing swiftness. They are sometimes caught; 

 and, very different from the old ones, suffer 

 themselves to be carried home, and are 

 tamed very easily. In five or six days they 

 become familiar, eat out of the hand, and 

 drink a surprising quantity of sea-water. But 

 though they are easily rendered domestic, 

 they are not reared without the greatest dif- 

 ficulty : for they generally pine away, for want 

 of their natural supplies, and die in a short 

 time. While they are yet young, (heir co- 

 lours are very different from those lively tints 

 they acquire with age. In their first year 

 they are covered with plumage of a white co- 

 lour, mixed with gray: in the second year 

 the whole body is white, with here and there 

 a slight tint of scarlet; and the great covert 

 feathers of the wings are black : the third 



