54 WATER-BIRDS IN THEIR HOMES. 



scratching like a fowl, but they go through the same motions, 

 only not so fast; and as their long legs go up and down it re- 

 minds one of a regiment of soldiers marking time. After they 

 have stirred up the earth for a while, they put their heads 

 down into the water, gather up the results of their labor, and 

 then "mark time" again, constantly swinging around and 

 gathering the earth up into a mound. When they are through, 

 there will frequently be a mound five or six inches high and 

 three or four feet across. 



The nesting habits of the flamingo are peculiar. They nest 

 in great colonies, and when not disturbed occupy the old nests 

 the following year, not perhaps the same bird using its own 

 nest of the former year, but the colony as a whole occupying 

 the same nests. I have seen not less than four thousand nests 

 in one group, as close together as they could be placed. 



The most desirable locality seems to be some very shallow 

 and very muddy lagoon, where the nests are almost unap- 

 proachable. They are made of soft mud which is worked up 

 into a pyramid, eighteen or twenty inches across at the base, 

 perhaps fifteen inches high the first season, and about ten 

 inches across on top. This mud dries and becomes exceed- 

 ingly hard, so as to retain its form for years. The birds each 

 year add a little to the top of the nest, so that the nests fre- 

 quently become two feet high or more. 



The nest is hollowed out a little on top, and the eggs, usually 

 two, are deposited on the bare earth. The egg is large, averag- 

 ing about three and a half by four and a half inches, and when 

 first laid is pure white, being covered with a flaky substance, 

 but it becomes bluish when this is removed. The bird takes a 

 position on the nest like that of most other birds, but sits a 

 little farther back on account of its long legs, thus bringing 

 the eggs a little more toward the breast. It does not sit 



