332 THE FLAMINGO. 



of a hillock, with a cavity on the top where the eggs are laid; 

 and the height of the hillock is such, that she can sit as 

 comfortably on her nest as a horseman does on his saddle, 

 leaving her legs to hang dangling down at full length on 

 either side. 



The bill, misshapen as it is, can also, in case of necessity, 

 be used for a very different purpose from that of feeding; for 

 one of these birds in confinement having been accidentally 

 deprived of a leg, soon found a remedy by walking with the 

 other, and using its bill as a crutch, and probably finding it 

 as serviceable as a wooden leg, which, strange to say, has 

 been supplied in a similar case. The circumstance is men- 

 tioned by an eye-witness.* " A Crane, having," as he says, 

 " had one of his legs broken, and cut off above the knee, had 

 a wooden leg and thigh, with a joint so accurately made, 

 that the creature could walk and use it as well as if it had 

 been natural." 



We have alluded to the bright pink and scarlet colours of 

 the Flamingoes, which give them a soldier-like appearance, in 

 addition to further military habits they seem very generally 

 to adopt. Not only do they always assemble in flocks, but 

 they form in long lines of regular rank and file, as well for 

 the purpose of fishing, as when they repose on the strand. 

 Still further : after the manner of experienced soldiers, they 

 post sentinels, who keep a good look-out ; and, if anything 

 suspicious attracts their notice, immediately send forth a cry 

 like the sound of a trumpet, when the whole corps moves off 

 in regular marching order. 



In the river Inhambau, on the eastern coast of Africa, 

 the officers of Captain Owen's surveying-ships found them so 

 numerous, that every shoal was covered with them, " look- 

 ing," to use their words, "at a distance, like large variegated 

 plains, and, upon a nearer approach, resembling files of sol- 

 diers. When the sun was shining upon them, nothing 

 could surpass the beauty of their brilliant and dazzling 

 appearance." 



* EVELYN'S Diary, vol. ii. 



