FLAMINGO 457 



cheeks, and throat on which is a white loop, a black collar followed by a white 

 bind, and then a black gorget. Above, the general colour is pale brown, under- 

 neath it is white. The females have no bands on the throat and breast, but are 

 more spotted with black on the back, 

 wnite-winged Amid extensive swamps and marshes, often in places quite 



Black Tern, unapprochable, the widely distributed white-winged black tern 

 (Hydrochelidon leucoptera), recognisable at a distance by its sharply defined 

 coloration, swarms over its nesting-sites. Abundant in certain localities in Spain, 

 Italy, Dalmatia, Hungary, and the Dobrudscha, it is not common farther north 

 and but seldom seen in Sweden or England. Eastwards it ranges through 

 temperate Asia, and journeys southwards to the Transvaal and India, whence 

 through the Malay Archipelago it reaches Australia and New Zealand, while now 

 and then it even crosses the Atlantic, having been shot in Wisconsin. It is 

 9i inches long : the body is mainly black with the lesser wing-coverts white ; 

 the black and grey wings are broadly edged with white, the upper tail-coverts are 

 white, while the tail, which is deeply forked, is white both above and below. The 

 feet-webs are deeply indented ; the feet themselves as well as the legs are red, and 

 the bill a darker shade of the same colour. 



The flamingo (Pkcenicojrtenis roseus) ranges across northern 



Africa from Senegambia and Morocco to the Eed Sea, and also 

 through south-western Asia into India, occurring only occasionally in Asia Minor. 

 It also lives round the Black Sea, the Caspian, and the Sea of Aral, and other 

 large lakes of the Kirghiz steppe. In Europe it breeds on the plains of the 

 Guadalquivir in Spain, where, as well as in the south of France, Italy, Sardinia, 

 and Sicily, it occurs in large flocks. Its favourite haunts are the mouths of rivers, 

 and marshes and lagoons near the seashore. Feeding on small worms, molluscs, 

 crustaceans, and vegetable-matter, it searches the mud for its food with its beak, 

 sinking the head and long neck deeply into the water, with the arched upper half 

 of its beak placed on the mud, and the lower half turned upward. Flamingoes 

 are very wary, and when standing erect, with the neck elevated, are little shorter 

 than an average man, and therefore able to overlook a wide extent of ground, 

 particularly as they keep to open plains, and never conceal themselves among 

 marsh-plants. When a flock alights, the first act of its members is to stand in 

 line, stretch out their necks and look round ; after which they disperse in search 

 of food, which they seek standing in the water up to their knees, and frequently 

 bending their neck in a double curve. These stately birds walk quickly and 

 gracefully, and when at rest draw up one leg close to the body. When about 

 to fly, they take a series of jumps, half running, half flying, along the surface 

 of the water; but once on the wing they fly rapidly and strongly, looking, 

 with the long legs stretched backwards, the long horizontal neck, and the 

 narrow wings, like crossbows. In the young the beak is straight and used in 

 the normal manner, but gradually it acquires the sudden bend characteristic 

 of the adult. 



Of several reptiles peculiar to the south of Europe, the 



Greek tortoise (Testudo grtxca) is a familiar species, which when 

 full-grown measures about 10 inches in length, and weighs from 4i to 5J lbs. 



