BIRDS. 



339 



bly stand a chance of being ill used, if the blacks discovered tbtir 

 sacred birds thus unmercifully treated. 



Sometimes, in their wild state, they are shot by- mariners , 

 and their young which run excessively fast, are often taken. 

 Labat has frequently taken them with nets, properly extended 

 round the places they breed in. When their long legs are en- 

 tangled in the meshes, they are then unqualified to make their 

 escape : but they still continue to combat with their destroyer ; 

 and the old ones, though seized by the head, will scratch with 

 their claws ; and these, though seemingly inoffensive, very often 

 do mischief. When they are fairly disengaged from the net, 

 they nevertheless preserve their natural ferocity : they refuse all 

 nourishment ; they peck, and combat with their claws, at every 

 opportunity. The fowler is, therefore, imder a necessity of 

 destroying them, when taken ; as they would only pine and 

 die, if left to themselves in captivity. 



The flesh of the old ones is black and hard ; though. Dam- 

 pier says, well-tasted : that of the young ones is still better. 

 But of all other delicacies, the flamingo's tongue is the most 

 celebrated. " A dish of flamingoes' tongues," says our author, 

 " is a feast for ati emperor." In fact, the Roman emperors con- 

 sidered them as the highest luxury ; and we have an account of 

 one of them, who procured fifteen hundred flamingoes' tongues 

 to be served up in a single dish. The tongue of this bird, which 

 is so much sought after, is a good deal larger than that of any 

 other bird whatever. The bill of the flamingo is like a iSrge 

 black box, of an irregular figure, and filled with a tongue which 

 is black and gristly ; but what peculiar flavour it may possess, I 

 leave to be determined by such as understand good eating better 

 than I do. It is probable, that the beauty and scarcity of the 

 bird might be the first inducements to studious gluttony to fix 

 upon its tongue as meat for the table. What Dampier says of 

 the goodness of its flesh, cannot so well be relied on ; for Dam- 

 pier was often hungry, and thought any thing good that could be 

 eaten : he avers, indeed, with Labat, that the flesh is black, 

 tough, and fishy ; so that we can hardly give him credit, when 

 he asserts, that its flesh can be formed into a luxurious enter- 

 tainment. 



These birds us was said, always go in flocks together ; and 

 they move \u r.ink, in the manner of cranes. Tliey are soine- 



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