THE FLAMINGO. 



187 



ians did their bird ibis : the shoveller runs 

 tamely about their houses ; and they are con- 

 tent with its society , as a useful, though a home- 

 ly, companion. They are never killed ; and, 

 indeed, they are good for nothing when they 

 are dead, for the flesh is unfit to be eaten, 



This bird breeds, in Europe, in company 

 with the heron, in high trees ; and in a nest 

 formed of the same materials. Willoughby 

 tells us, that in a certain grove, at a village 

 called Seven Huys, near Leyden, they build 

 and breed yearly in great numbers. In this 

 grove, also, the heron, the bittern, the cormor- 

 ant, and the shag, have taken up their resi- 

 dence, and annually bring forth their young to- 

 gether. Here the crane kind seem to have 

 formed their general rendezvous ; and, as the 

 inhabitants say, every sort of bird has its 

 several quarter, where none but their own 

 tribe are permitted to reside. Of this grove, 

 the peasants of the country make good profit. 

 When the young ones are ripe, those that 

 farm the grove , with a hook at the end of a 

 long pole, catch hold of the bough on which 

 the nest is built, and shake out the young 

 ones ; but sometimes the nest and all tumble 

 down together. 



The shoveller lays from three to five eggs, 

 white, and powdered with a few sanguine or 

 pale spots. We sometimes see, in the cabinets 

 of the curious, the bills of American shovellers, 

 twice as big and as long as those of the com- 

 mon kind among us ; but these birds have 

 not yet made their way into Europe. 



CHAP. VIII. 



THE FLAMINGO. 



THE Flamingo has the justest right to be 

 placed among cranes, and though it happens 



to be web-footed, like birds of the goose kind, 

 yet its height, figure, and appetites, entirely 

 remove it from that grovelling class of animals. 

 With a longer neck and legs than any other of 

 the crane kind, it seeks its food by wading 

 among waters, and only differs from all of 

 this tribe in the manner of seizing its prey ; 

 for as the heron makes use of its claws, the 

 flamingo uses only its bill, which is strong 

 and thick for the purpose, the claws being 

 useless, as they are feeble, and webbed like 

 those of water-fowl. 



The flamingo is the most remarkable of all 

 the crane kind, the tallest, bulkiest, and the 

 most beautiful. The body, which is of a 

 beautiful scarlet, is no bigger than that of a 

 swan ; but its legs and neck are of such an 

 extraordinary length, that, when it stands 

 erect, it is six feet six inches high. Its wings, 

 extended, are five feet six inches from tip to 

 tip ; and it is four feet eight inches from tip 

 to tail. The head is round and small, with 

 a large bill, seven inches long, partly red, 

 partly black, and crooked like a bow. The 

 legs and thighs, which are not much thickei 

 than a man's finger, are about two feet eight 

 inches high ; and its neck near three feet long. 

 The feet are not furnished with sharp claws, 

 as in others of the crane kind ; but feeble, and 

 united by membranes, as in those of the goose. 

 Of what use these membranes are does not 

 appear, as the bird is never seen swimming, 

 its legs and thighs being sufficient forbearing 

 it into those depths where it seeks for prey. 



This extraordinary bird is now chiefly 

 found in America ; but it was once known on 

 all the coasts of Europe. Its beauty, its size, 

 and the peculiar delicacy of its flesh, have been 

 such temptations to destroy or take it, that it 

 has long since deserted the shores frequented 

 by man, and taken refuge in countries that 

 are as yet but thinly peopled. In those de- 

 sert regions, the flamingos live in a state of 

 society, and under a better polity than any 

 other of the feathered creation. 



When the Europeans first came to America, 

 and coasted down along the African shores, 

 they found the flamingos on several shores on 

 either continent, gentle, and no way distrust- 

 ful of mankind. 1 They had long been used 

 to security, in the extensive solitudes they had 

 chosen ; and knew no enemies but those they 

 could very well evade or oppose. The ne- 

 groes and the native Americans were posses- 

 sed but of few destructive arts for killing them 

 at a distance ; and when the bird perceived 

 the arrow, it well knew how to avoid it. But 

 it was otherwise when the Europeans first 

 came among them ; the sailors, not consider- 

 ing that the dread of fire-arms was totally un- 



' Albin's New History of Birds. 



