110 ^YILD SPAIN. 



appearance of the herd from a distance became clearly 

 discernible. Many of the birds were sitting down on a 

 low mud-island. Some were standing upon it : and 

 others again were standing in the water. Thus the 

 different elevations of their bodies formed what had 

 appeared a triple or quadruple line. 



On reaching the spot we found a perfect mass of nests. 

 The low, fiat, mud plateau was crowded with them as 

 thickly as its space permitted. These nests had little or 

 no height above the fiat surface of mud — some were 

 raised an inch or two, a few might be five or six inches in 

 height ; but the majority were merely circular bulwarks 

 of mud barely raised above the general level, and having 

 the impression of the bird's legs distinctly marked upon 

 them. The general aspect of the plateau was not unlike 

 a large table covered with plates. In the centre was a 

 deep hole full of muddy water, which, from the gouged 

 appearance of its sides, appeared to be used as a reservoir 

 for nest-making materials. 



Scattered all round this main colony were numerous 

 single nests, rising out of the water and evidently built up 

 from the bottom. Here and there two or three of these 

 were joined together — " semi-detached," so to speak : these 

 separate nests stood six or eight inches above water-level, 

 and as the depth was rather over a foot, the total height of 

 the nests would be some two feet or thereabouts, and their 

 width across the hollow top some fifteen inches. None of 

 these nests as yet contained any eggs, and though I 

 returned to the pajarcra on the latest daj^ I was in its 

 neighbourhood (May 11th) they still remained empty. On 

 l)oth occasions many hundreds of flamingoes were sitting 

 on the nests, and on the 11th we had a good view of them 

 at close quarters. Linked arm-in-arm with Felipe, and 

 crouching low on the water to look as little human as 

 possible, we approached within some seventy yards before 

 their sentries showed signs of alarm : and at that distance, 

 with the glass, observed the sitting birds as distinct!}' as 

 one need wish. The long red legs doul)led under their 

 bodies, the knees projecting as far as, or bej'ond the tail. 



