330 THE FLAMINGO. 



are found in England. Near Holyhead, in the island of 

 Anglesey, a very fine specimen was shot and preserved, in 

 1832. It was first seen early in May, feeding at low water, 

 in company with some Herons, on the marine productions 

 left by the tide, but was so shy that some weeks had elapsed 

 before it was killed, at three o'clock in the morning, by a 

 man who had marked its roosting-place on a small rocky 

 island, accessible only on foot at low water. Another was 

 also killed about this time, at no great distance from the 

 same place. When rising from the ground, it always made 

 several wide circles before getting into full flight. It was 

 very shy, and never could be approached nearer than one 

 hundred yards. 



The Flamingo is by far the most striking of these three 

 genera; its scientific name is Phcenicopterus, from two 

 Greek words, signifying " wings of flame," their beautiful 

 carnation colour contrasting with the plumes of the neck and 

 body, which in one species are of delicate white. It is a 

 most extraordinary bird. Its legs are of an excessive length, 

 and so slender, that at a little distance, standing, as they 

 usually do, on one alone, it is not easily seen, and the bird 

 appears as if stationary in the air. But the chief singularity 



is in the bill, which the an- 

 nexed figure will explain better 

 than any verbal description. 

 With this misshapen instru- 

 ment, it would appear, that 

 the act of collecting food must 

 be an affair of some difficulty 

 an opinion rather confirmed 

 *' by the still more extraordinary 



manner in which it feeds. On looking at the plate, it will 

 be seen that, owing to the sudden curvature, or almost broken 

 and deformed appearance of the beak, food, collected in the 

 usual way, must naturally drop from the mouth ; and so it 

 would, if the bird fed as other birds do ; but it adopts its own 

 method, by turning its head and scooping up the soft sub- 

 stances on which it preys, using the upper mandible as a 



