CLIFF-DWELLERS 27 



nests, nor sit down upon them otherwise than by- 

 resting their whole bodies there, to the prejudice 

 of their eggs or their young, were it not for this 

 admirable contrivance, which they have by natural 

 instinct. The young ones cannot fly until they are 

 almost full-grown; but will run prodigiously fast." 



This account of the method of incubation is very 

 incorrect. The truth is that the old birds sit upon 

 their island-like nests, just as other birds do — with- 

 out injury to the eggs or to the young. These 

 cup-shaped nests are sufficiently deep for all neces- 

 sary protection. From this elevated position the 

 flamingoes can fish while sitting on their eggs. 

 Great numbers of these birds live in Florida and 

 in the Philippine Islands, where they often congre- 

 gate by the thousands into colonies. 



Not the least interesting and surely the most 

 paradoxical of all cave-dwellers is the bat. These 

 strange "children of Erebus" have something obso- 

 lete in their general make-up. In the Davonian 

 monster-period, skin wings were quite the fashion, 

 but to-day they have gone out of vogue. It is a 

 curious fact that all winged mammals are now noc- 

 turnal in their habits, as if they feared competition 

 with their day-light contemporaries. Most of the 

 skin-winged creatures, like the winged lemur, the 

 flying fox, and the flying squirrel, dread sunlight 



