THE B.15TICAN WILDERNESS — APRIL. 75 



wings, flashing against the sky like a gleam of rosy light. 

 Then one descends to the practical, and a volley of slugs 

 cuts a lane through their phalanx. 



In many respects these hirds bear a strong resemblance 

 to geese. Like the latter, Flamingoes feed by day : and 

 quantities of grass, etc., are always floating about the 

 mudd}' water at the spot where a herd has been feeding. 

 Their cry is almost indistinguishable from the gaggling of 

 geese, and they fly in the same chain-like formations. 

 The irides of the oldest individuals are very pale lemon- 

 yellow : the bare skin between the bill and the eye is also 

 yellow, and the whole plumage beautifully suft'used with 

 warm pink. In the young birds of one year (which do not 

 breed) this pink shade is entirely absent, and even their 

 wings Ijear but slight traces of it. The secondaries and 

 tertiaries of these immature birds are barred irregularly 

 with black spots, and their legs, bills and eyes are of a 

 dull lead colour. In size flamingoes vary greatly : the 

 largest we have measured was fully six feet five inches — • 

 there are some quite seven feet — while others (old red 

 birds) barely reached five feet. 



The further we advanced into the marisma the more 

 abundant became the bird-life. Besides ducks and 

 flamingoes, troops of long-legged Stilts in places whitened 

 the waters, and chattering bands of Avocets swept over the 

 marshy islets : around these also gyrated clouds of Dunlins 

 in full breeding-plumage : smaller flights, composed of 

 Kentish plovers and Lesser Eing-dotterel mixed, with Red- 

 shanks and Peewits : the two latter paired. One morning 

 at daybreak, a pack of two hundred Black-tailed Godwits 

 pitched on an islet hard by our camp, probably tired with 

 a long migratory journey, for these wary birds allowed two 

 punts to run almost " aboard them," and received a raking 

 broadside at thirty yards.* On April 11th we obtained a 



* These Godwits (Liinosa belgica) are more common on passaj^e 

 earlier in the spring. We have seen flights of many hundreds in 

 February and March. The Couniion Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa rufa) 

 we have never chanced to meet with here, either in winter or spring 

 — only on its southern passage, in September. 



