54 HISTORY OF THE FLAMINGO. 



within the tropics. They are met with in the warmer parts 

 of the continent, but they do not appear in any case to range 

 more polarly than about the fortieth degree of latitude, 

 They are common on the African coast, and the islands 

 adjacent to the Cape of Good hope, and sometimes on the 

 shores of Spain, Italy, Cicily, Sardinia, and even to Mar- 

 seilles, and some way up the Rhone, but rarely in the inte- 

 rior of the continent of Europe, and seldom on the banks of 

 the Rhine. We trace them on the Persian side of the Cas- 

 pian Sea, and thence along the western coast as far as the 

 Wolga. They breed abundantly in the Cape de Verde 

 islands, particularly that of Sal, constructing on the sea 

 shore, but so as not to be flooded by the tide, a nest of mud, 

 in the shape of a pyramidal hillock, with a cavity at the top, 

 in which the female generally lays two white eggs, of the 

 size of those of a goose, but more elongated. The structure 

 is of a sufficient height to admit of the bird's sitting on it 

 conveiently, or rather standing astride, as the legs are 

 placed, one on each side, at full length. The female will 

 also sometimes deposit her eggs on the low projection of a 

 rock, if otherwise adapted to her attitude during incubation. 

 The young are not able to fly till they are grown ; but they 

 can previously run with great swiftness. In this immature 

 state they are sometimes caught, and easily tamed, becom- 

 ing familiar in five or six days, eating from the hand, and 

 drinking freely of sea water. But they are reared with 

 difficulty, being very apt to pine from want of their natu- 

 ral subsistence, which chiefly consists of small fishes, and 

 their spawn, testacea, and equatic insects. These they 

 capture by plunging the bill and part, of the head into the 

 water, and, from time to time, trampling upon the bottom to 

 disturb the mud, and raise up their prey. In feeding they 

 twist the neck in such a manner, that the upper part of the 

 bill is applied to the ground. They generally shun culti- 

 vated and inhabited tracts of country, and resort to solitary 



