232 AFRICA SPEAKS 



was enough to bake a person alive and soon dried this 

 poisonous mud on my skin. Then the fun commenced. 

 It started to itch and burn until, in desperation, I made 

 a flying trip to the truck where I used up all the drink- 

 ing water in my frantic efforts to secure relief. P£a:tly 

 successful, I returned to my station by the rock 

 to find out after a while that, although flamingos 

 are interesting and comical, they are also extremely 

 camera shy. 



They would crowd around from all points excepting 

 in front. There was probably a reflection from the 

 glass which frightened them, but I could think of no 

 way to take pictures without a lens, so had to be 

 patient. GraduaUy they approached closer and I 

 eventuaUy secured some scenes of these long-legged 

 birds parading down the beach, strutting before the 

 camera, with their bodies swaying from one side to 

 another. Some would stop and, with a coquettish 

 angle to the head, glance here and there, at the same 

 time puUing their feet out of the mud, reminding me 

 of a high-stepping fly on a sheet of sticky fly paper. 

 As they marched back and forth I involuntarily started 

 to hum "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers." 



The word "flamingo" is derived from the word 

 "flame" and was given to this bird on account of its 

 briUiant plumage. There were two species represented 

 at Lake Hannington. We found the smaUer but more 

 highly-colored Phcenicopterus minor to be more nu- 

 merous than the larger species, Phcenicopterus roseuSy 

 although this latter Hved here in hundreds of thousands. 

 The larger bird wiU weigh approximately thirty pounds. 



The long slender legs and webbed feet are scarlet 

 and purple; the odd-shaped beaks are of the same 



