ojC history of 



slioveler nnis tamely about their houses ; and tliey are content 

 with its society, as a useful, though a homely, companion. They 

 are never killed ; and, indeed, they are good for nothing when 

 they are dead, for the flesh is unfit to be eaten. 



This bird breeds, in Europe, in company with the heron, in 

 high trees ; and in a nest formed of the same materials. Wil- 

 loughby tells us, that in a certain grove, at a village called Seven 

 Huys, near Leyden, they build and breed yearly in great num 

 bers. In this grove, also, the heron, the bittern, the cormorant, 

 and the shag, have taken up their residence, and annually bring 

 forth their young together. Here the crane kind seem to have 

 formed their general rendezvous ; and, as the inhabitants say, 

 eveiy sort of bird has its several quarter, where none but their 

 own tribe are permitted to reside. Of this grove, the peasants 

 of the country make good profit. When the young ones are 

 ripe, those that farm the grove, with a hook at the end of a long 

 pole, catch hold of the bough on which the nest is built, and 

 shake out the young ones ; but sometimes the nest and all tum- 

 ble down together. 



The shoveler lays from three to five eggs, white, and powder- 

 ed with a few sanguine or pale spots. We sometimes see, in 

 the cabinets of the curious, the bills of American shovelers, 

 twice as big and as long as those of the common kind among us ; 

 but these birds have not yet made their way into Europe. 



CHAP. vin. 



THE FLAMINGO. 



The Flamingo has the justest right to be placed among cranes , 

 and though it happens to be web-footed, like birds of the goose 

 kind, yet its height, figure, and appetites, entirely remove it from 

 that grovelling class of animals. With a longer neck and legs 

 than any other of the crane kind, it seeks its food by wading 

 among waters, and only differs from all of this tribe in the man- 

 ner of seizing its prey ; for as the heron makes use of its claws, 

 the flamingo uses only its bill, which is strong and thick for the 

 purpose, the claws being useless, as they are feeble, and webbed 

 like those of water-fow 1. 



